lookee what fell out of the Porcupine Tree

[richmon]

'Out of myself' by Riverside
They spun some of this between acts at Nearfest 04 and my ears pricked up "promising" I thought.
Saw this on some best of 04 lists, and heard descriptions that mention PTree, Opeth, Pink Floyd and Anathema.
So in I plunged and after 2 whole listens, I'm moved enough to post. It's Son of PTree, closest to the groove 'Sky moves sideways' laid down, where the guitar blazes the trail and spacey keys filling in the voids and atmospheres. Vocals, in english for this Polish band are accent free, good, although not quite up to Wilson's best stuff. The recording quality is good, not excellent, the disc is 53 minutes long and clunker free. damned consistent actually. So if you like that chill out, veg-o-matic, sky moves sideways stuff (I'm jitterbugging to architecture here), this should be on your short list.
Looking forward to their set at NearFest 05, if I make it.
Antibody have insight or raves for Anathema ?

[Troy]

Sounds great! Color it on my list.

Looking forward to the new RPWL too.

[Dusty Chalk]

Anathema's latest album, A Natural Disaster is bizarre. Not recommended except for those that want something ...erm... different. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, enough to spin it more than once, enough to keep it, just not enough to recommend. There are a couple of killer tracks on it, but it's just...not there, yaknow?

OTOH, their previous album, A Fine Day to Exit is fantastic. Geddit geddit geddit geddit geddit. Easily my favourite work by them. Very PTree/PFloyd/Marillion-esque. Powerful.

The next place to check them out is their two compilations Resonance and Resonance 2. The quieter one (the first one, I believe) is more recommended for people who are coming at them from this angle. The second one is a good introduction to their classic harder rock sound.

From there, work your way backwards. I.E.: Judgement (has my favourite track by them, "Anyone, Anywhere"), then Alternative 4 (my second favourite by them), then Eternity.

Each one of those gets progressively (regressively?) harder, so if you're only into it for the prog, I would recommend stopping there.

However, hardcore Anathema fans would say start with their harder stuff, because they defined the "Gothenberg" sound with albums like Serenades and Pentecost III, so if you dig the heavy metal vibe, keep going.

I believe I have them all at this point, and although I am a headbanger, I am a prog-head more, so the above stated is my personal preference as well.

[ForeverAutumn]

Anathema's disks were (are?) not available in Canada. So, after hearing raves reviews over A Fine Day To Exit, I took a look for it while on vacation in Las Vegas. I couldn't find AFDTE but did find both Judgement and Eternity, which I purchased.

I was really looking forward to cracking both these disks open and listening to some good spacey prog to relax to on the flight home....based on the reviews of AFDTE. Well....I actually laughed out loud (on a full airplane) when I realized that what I had purchased sounded much closer to death metal than spacey prog!!!

Both Judgement and Eternity are excellent from a musical standpoint, but are filled with growling vocals. I ended up giving both of these disks away to someone here (can't remember who), since I knew that I would never listen to them. If you're like me and can't stomach the cookie monster vocals, stick to A Fine Day to Exit and avoid Judgement and Eternity. If you don't mind the growls, Judgement and Eternity are filled with some pretty damn good music if I remember them correctly.

[BarryL]

Anathema's disks were (are?) not available in Canada.

I picked up A Fine Day To Exit yesterday based on this post. All of thier releases were available at HMV in Toronto for reasonable prices. Not a bad album on first listen. Sounds very much like PT in parts, crossed with Radiohead's OK Computer. I don't really see the Pink Floyd comparison, though. I expected something much more mellow based on the AMG review, but this is definately for metal heads. Fans of the two aforementioned bands will probably like this release.

If it really grows on me, then I think I'll go for the two compilations to cover their earlier ground, and stop there.