Anathema

Anathema are a British rock band from Liverpool. The line-up consists of singers and guitarists Vincent and Daniel Cavanagh, their brother Jamie Cavanagh on bass, siblings John and Lee Douglas, respectively drummer and singer, and keyboardist Daniel Cardoso since November 2012. The band was founded as Pagan Angel in 1990 by the three Cavanagh siblings, John, and singer Darren White, as a death/doom band. At the time White was the only singer of the band. The following year, Jamie left and was replaced by Duncan Patterson. Under this line-up, Anathema released their first EP, The Crestfallen (1992), and their first album, Serenades (1993). However, White left in 1995; Vincent decided to act as Anathema's vocalist in addition to his guitarist function in the albums The Silent Enigma (1995) and Eternity (1996), which were going into a more gothic metal direction. In 1997, John left the band, and was replaced by Shaun Steels for the album Alternative 4 (1998). Both Patterson and Steels left the same year, replaced by Dave Pybus and a returning John Douglas, while former My Dying Bride keyboardist and violinist Martin Powell also joined the band (Daniel Cavanagh was also acting as the band's only keyboardist, and shared this position since).

The only album released with this line-up was Judgement (1999): the same year Powell switched positions with Cradle of Filth's keyboardist Les Smith who joined Anathema, and Lee Douglas, John's sister, was added to the line-up as a backing and occasional lead vocalist. The band released their sixth album A Fine Day to Exit in 2001, turning to an alternative sound. Shortly after the release, Pybus announced his departure and was replaced by the band's original bassist, Jamie Cavanagh, reuniting the three brothers in the band for the first time since 1991. There were no new members for the next ten years, with the albums A Natural Disaster (2003) and We're Here Because We're Here (2010) all being recorded and released by the same line-up, with the sound turning even more towards progressive rock; however, Daniel Cavanagh left Anathema in 2002 to join Antimatter, returning in 2003. Smith left Anathema in 2011, and Vincent and Daniel both assumed the function of keyboardist for the band's ninth album, Weather Systems, in 2012. The same year, Cardoso, the band's live keyboardist since 2011, joined as a full-time member. The band's tenth studio album, Distant Satellites, was released on 9 June 2014 via Kscope.

Early years

Anathema formed in 1990 as a doom metal band, initially going by the name Pagan Angel. In November of that year, the band recorded their first demo, entitled An Iliad of Woes. This demo caught the attention of several bands and labels from the English metal scene. At the beginning of 1991, the band gained a lot of attention with the release of their second demo entitled All Faith Is Lost, resulting in a four-album deal with Peaceville Records. Their first release under the label was The Crestfallen EP in November 1992. They took the material from that album on the road, touring with Cannibal Corpse. Serenades, Anathema's debut LP, attracted a lot of mainstream attention, propelling their "Sweet Tears" music video onto the MTV playlist. Anathema's first European tour was in 1994, and was closely followed by gigs at the Independent Rock Festival in Brazil. In May 1995, vocalist Darren White parted with the band, eventually forming The Blood Divine. Rather than recruiting a new vocalist, the band decided that guitarist Vincent Cavanagh should assume White's role. This new formation debuted by touring with Cathedral in the United Kingdom, and released The Silent Enigma soon after to rave reviews. It also showed the band starting to take a direction akin to Gothic metal.

Mid 90's

The next member to leave the band was drummer John Douglas, who departed in the summer of 1997. He was replaced by Shaun Steels, formerly of Solstice, who would also later play drums for My Dying Bride. The release of Eternity came in 1996, relying more on atmospheric sounds, and starting the transition to clean vocals; the album Judgement would later consolidate this style. A European tour followed the album's release. Alternative 4 was released in 1998. During this time the band underwent many line-up changes. Bassist/songwriter Duncan Patterson quit due to musical differences and was replaced by Dave Pybus of Dreambreed, a band which Duncan had played bass for during a short period, and not long after this Martin Powell (who had played keyboards and violin for My Dying Bride previously) joined the band for live performances. Finally, founding drummer John Douglas returned to the drums in place of Steels. In June 1999, the album Judgement was released, marking Anathema's complete shift from the doom metal genre, focusing instead on slower and more experimental songs. This new sound has been likened to artists such as Pink Floyd, Jeff Buckley, and to a lesser extent, Radiohead. However, the essence of the band remained the same[citation needed]. Their songs continued to express a feeling of depression and, more often than not, desperation. The next year Martin Powell switched positions with Cradle of Filth's keyboardist Les Smith, who came to be an integral member of Anathema.

Alternative sound

Shortly before the release of A Fine Day to Exit, Dave Pybus announced his departure from the band and later joined Cradle of Filth. He was replaced by touring bassist George Roberts, and later by Jamie Cavanagh. In March 2002, Daniel Cavanagh announced his departure from the band, joining Duncan Patterson's band Antimatter. However, he later rejoined Anathema in 2003 for the release of A Natural Disaster, and started their European tour. This accelerated the changes in Anathema's tone, towards the atmospheric and progressive, as exhibited in album tracks "Flying" and "Violence". Upon the closing of their label Music for Nations after its purchase by Sony BMG, Anathema found itself without a record label, despite having completed an extensive tour of the UK with popular Finnish rock band HIM in April 2006. During their search for a new label, the band have adopted a more 'DIY' approach to music release, embracing the internet and releasing songs via their own website, for which fans may donate a monetary sum of their own choice. Despite the obvious lack of label-based tour support, the band continues to play dates across Europe, guitarist Danny Cavanagh also playing the odd low-key acoustic concert.

Progressive stream

On 20 March 2010, Anathema announced on their website and Facebook page the release date of their next album. We're Here Because We're Here was released on 31 May 2010 on the Kscope label. John Douglas' sister Lee Douglas joined the band in the capacity of a vocalist during the recording of this album. She had previously performed on the two previous albums as a guest vocalist. On 6 July 2011, it was announced on the band's official page that their album of re-interpretations, Falling Deeper, would be released on 5 September 2011. The album was a follow-up to Hindsight and contained new orchestral versions of songs from the past, as well as a version of "Everwake" featuring the vocals of Anneke van Giersbergen. On 12 September 2011, Les Smith's departure due to "creative and musical differences" was announced on the band's website.

On 16 April 2012, the band's ninth studio album, Weather Systems, was released via Kscope. The album entered the UK album charts at No. 50 and the German album charts at No. 19. On 8 November 2012, Daniel Cavanagh announced on Anathema's official website that Daniel Cardoso was joining in a full-time permanent basis, as a key element of the band. On 2 December 2012, Anathema announced their first concert in India. Anathema has performed at IIT Madras as part of the Saarang Rock Show on 12 January 2013. The band's live album, named Universal, was released as a double vinyl album on 24 June 2013. The album is a recording of a special one-off gig at the ancient Roman theatre of Philippopolis in 2012, where the band were joined by the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra. The set was released on Blu-ray, DVD and CD under the name Universal, with an alternate track order, on 17 September 2013.

The band performed on drummer Mike Portnoy's Progression Nation at Sea tour aboard the Norwegian Cruise Line ship Pearl that sailed from the Port of Miami on 18 February 2014. Daniel Cardoso, initially keyboardist, has assumed the role of drummer taking over from John Douglas who now plays percussion and keyboards. On 28 March 2014, the band announced their upcoming studio album would be called Distant Satellites. The album came out on 9 June 2014 on the Kscope label, and was produced by Christer-André Cederberg in Oslo, Norway. Several tracks were mixed by Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree). Different from previous albums is the use of more electronica on this album. The album was released in four different versions: CD, vinyl, Media Book, and a Deluxe version. The band toured the album starting 22 May in Istanbul, Turkey, continuing throughout Europe and travelling to Australia for the first time to perform three dates during August 2014. Following the success of their short Australian tour, an acoustic tour was announced for New Zealand and Australia in 2015. Daniel, Vincent and Lee performed these show without the other band members. Later that year, the band released an acoustic live album and video entitled A Sort of Homecoming, consisting in the record of a concert at the band's

Ban nhạc Anathema là một ban nhạc của Anh, ở Liverpool, cùng với Paradise Lost và My Dying Bride, đã giúp phát triển dòng nhạc death/doom, một nhánh phụ của doom metal. Tuy vậy, kể từ album Eternity của họ được khởi đầu từ doom và metal, và được đánh dấu là bước chuyển giao sang atmospheric rock. Anathema có nghĩa là "Lời nguyền rủa". Anathema được thành lập vào năm 1990 là một band chơi doom metal, ban đầu dưới cái tên là Pagan Angel. Vào tháng 11 cùng năm đó, ban nhạc đã thu âm bản demo đầu tiên có tên là An Iliad of Woes. Bản demo này đã gây sự chú ý của một vài band nhạc trong làng metal Anh Quốc, họ được mời chơi vài buổi buổi diễn với những band như Bolt Thrower và Paradise Lost. Vào đầu năm 1991, ban nhạc đã chọn được tên chính thức và gây được nhiều sự chú ý bằng việc phát hành bản demo thứ hai tên All Faith Is Lost, kết quả là 4 album với hãng Peaceville Records. Xuất phẩm đầu tiên của họ dưới nhãn hiệu Peaceville Record là EP The Crestfallen vào tháng 11 năm 1992. Họ đã chọn chất liệu cho album đó trong tour diễn với Cannibal Corpse Serenades, sự xuất hiện của Anathema, đã thu hút được rất nhiều sự chú ý của dư luận, đồng thời xúc tiến việc phát video clip "Sweet Tears" trên MTV.

Tour diễn đầu tiên tại châu Âu của Anathema vào năm 1994, và ngay sau đó là những buổi biểu diễn tại Independent Rock Festival ở Brazil. Vào tháng 5 năm 1995, ca sĩ chính Darren White tách khỏi nhóm, thành lập The Blood Divine. Thay vì tuyển một ca sĩ mới, ban nhạc quyết định đưa tay guitar Vicent Cavanagh thay cho vai trò của White. Bản phát hành Eternity ra mắt năm 1996, phong cách theo hơi hướng atmospheric nhiều hơn, và bắt đầu chuyển sang giọng trong, phong cách này được định hình rõ trong album Judgement sau này. 1 tour diễn ở châu Âu theo sau việc phát hành album Anathema có buổi biểu diễn tại Istanbul Cemil Topuzlu Harbiye Amphitheatre vào năm 2005. Thành viên thứ hai rời nhóm là tay trống John Douglas, rời ban nhạc mùa hè năm 1997. Anh ta được thay thế bởi Shaun Taylor-Steels, thành viên cũ của Solstice, người từng chơi trống cho My Dying Bride sau này.

Alternative 4 được phát hành năm 1998. Suốt khoảng thời gian này band phải trải qua nhiều thay đổi về đội hình. Tay bass Ducan Patterson rời nhóm vì sự khác biệt về phong cách âm nhạc và được thay thế bởi Dave Pybus của Dreambreed, nơi mà Ducan đã chơi bass một thời gian ngắn. Martin Powell (người từng chơi keyboard và violon cho My Dying Bride trước đây) cũng tham gia vào band. Cuối cùng John Douglas trở lại chơi trống cho band. Vào tháng 6 năm 1999, album Judgement được ra mắt, đánh dấu sự thay đổi từ thể loại doom metal sang những bài hát chậm và mang tính thử nghiệm hơn.Phong cách mới này được ví như các nghệ sĩ như Pink Floyd, Jeff Buckley và một phần nhỏ của Radiohead. Tuy nhiên, bản chất của band thì vẫn giữ nguyên. Các ca khúc của họ vẫn tiếp tục biểu lộ cảm xúc của sự buồn chán, và hơn thế nữa là sự tuyệt vọng. Cũng suốt năm đó Martin Powell chuyển sang chơi keyboard cho Cradle of Filth thay thế cho Les Smith, người đã trở thành thành viên thiết yếu của Anathema. Khoảng một thời gian ngắn trước ngày phát hành album A Fine Day to Exit, Dave Pybus thông báo chia tay ban nhạc để đến Cradle of Filth một cách thật trớ trêu. Anh được thay thế bởi tay bass George Roberts, và sauđó là Jamie Cavanagh.