Anathema's debut EP, "The Crestfallen EP" now available for pre-order. First time ever released as a stand-alone, officially released cassette tape.
Officially licensed through Peaceville Records
For Fans of (old) Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and (old) Tiamat
1992 was still a developing year for both gothic and death-doom. By the time Anathema releases they're first EP 'The Crestfallen', Paradise Lost had release two legendary albums 'Lost Paradise' and 'Gothic', Type O Negative had released they're first album months after 'Gothic' was released, and Winter who had released 'Into Darkness' back in 1990 had broken up. Though My Dying Bride had not released a LP by that time, they released their first EP as well just a year ago, thus bringing in more bands for this new form of death metal music. Anathema, who came in third place out of the peaceville three bands in terms of whom released material first, came in and released 'The Crestfallen' and not much background on the EP other than being one of the earliest releases of the band. The EP Musically sounds like they took inspiration from Paradise Lost, but in a way it is much more than just a Paradise Lost copycat, the EP is very impressive for its time, and has great qualities that make Anathema different from the other two of the peaceville three. I had the opportunity to hear the EP through 'Serenades' extra tracks (the one with 'All Faith is Lost')
Before I discuss the qualities this EP is capable of, I want to take a moment by talking about the cover of 'The Crestfallen.' First of all, Who is SHE? Why is SHE staring at me? Why does she look like she's going to stalk me in my nightmares? Who knows, but the cover on this EP is creepy which fits the same mold as death-doom in its rather creepy environment. Though, I wouldn't say that its the creepiest cover I've ever seen, but this lady looks ghostly and she's in black to represent her negative mood as well as what's to come in this EP. It is a nice touch rather than using images that I can't make out seeing (like Paradise Lost). It's most distorted sounds are also haunting, as the listener hears in 'They Die' it has that guitar effect that makes the EP more spooky, and that's what the spirit of death-doom should always be.
Now that the talk of a creepy staring woman is out of the way, let us talk about the music off of 'The Crestfallen'. The music sounds incredibly raw in a good way, it's not raw where it sounds lo-fi, but its raw in the sense that it gives that more darker and dirtier tone. The guitar and the instrumentals are awfully similar to Paradise Lost, even in an interview, Danny Cavanagh said that Anathema got inspiration from Paradise Lost. However, unlike Paradise Lost, 'The Crestfallen' offers some dark and sensitive material that gives the EP more emotion and depression. Good examples would be the melodic secondary guitar as heard in '...And I Lust', the female fronting and atmospheric 'Everwake', and the piano intro in 'Crestfallen'. 'Crestfallen' also does a great job in bringing that heavy, head banging rhythm to the EP, something that shows what Anathema can offer to the table of death-doom. If the listener thinks, this is before My Dying Bride bringing out emotional and romantic sounds into their music, so this makes Anathema a more unique band at the time.
Darren White also does a good job in its growling on 'The Crestfallen''. His growls were more dark, then he did it in the band's future debut album 'Serenades'. The parts where Darren and Vincent Cavanagh are growling together in 'Crestfallen' is vastly unique because it makes the song much more darker and ugly in a good way. With Darren showing more anger in his approach, Vincent would bring a more melancholic sound into the song. However, when I compare Darren's growling to the rest of the death-doom bands at the time, sure it may be darker but it's nothing new because it still sounds like it needs improvement. Nonetheless, I did enjoy the vocal performance of 'The Crestfallen' as it was in unison with the music and its rhythms.
Anathema were one of those bands that had better sounding death-doom music in their EP's and 'The Crestfallen' is clearly no exception in their formative years. Even though, they sound like a Paradise Lost copycat at the time, Anathema brought a lot of gothic-like, slow tempos and, dark atmospheres more so then Paradise Lost. 'The Crestfallen' is a great EP to listen to for those who crave that raw and slow death-doom sound of the early 1990s and it is certainly something you can't miss.
Sample: youtube.com/watch?v=oFp5nfPE31g
