ANATHEMA — Serenades (review)

ANATHEMA — Serenades album cover Album · 1993 · Death-Doom Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
1/5 ·
Peacock Feather
I must say that even though Anathema has the status of one of the pillars of doom-death, it is simply difficult to come up with a worse start to their career than Serenades. Perhaps the main problem is not in the ugly compositional structure of songs and even not in tortured riffs. The main problem with Serenades is vocals. Seriously, this is one of the most disgusting vocal performances I've heard in a long time. This is how I growl when I try to sing along to different death metal and similar genres. Darren White, with all due respect, is not the kind of vocalist who is able to set the necessary emotional tone for the sound of the band. Well, there is nothing special to distinguish from the songs, except J'ai Fait Une Promesse, which was sung in French (the only appearance of female vocals on the album, just a local "Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom" of some kind). By the way, the band's attempt to "clear" the music lover's brain with a 23-minute ambient set at the end of Serenades is perceived, to put it mildly, ridiculously.
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Peacock Feather wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Yeah, of course this was after I listened to a lot of their albums. Actually I made a post about Anathema for my public group in VK (Eastern European social network, Facebook analog), so I had to listen to this one (and also The Silent Enigma with Eternity) even though I didn't quite want to do it XD. Aaaaaand I translated my reviews for this site and ProgArchives. Anyway I must say I don't regret that I listened to their classic death-doom period, but it's mostly about listening to The Silent Enigma.
UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I´m guessing you didn´t listen to this one when it came out, but came to it after listening to later parts of the band´s discography, and I can understand why this one would be a little off putting if that´s the perspective it´s experienced in. I also understand why some people find White´s vocals bad. The throaty desperate semi-growling approach isn´t for everyone. I´m not a huge fan myself, but I don´t think it´s completey devoid of charm.

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