Really surprised to see an Anathema thread here. As I am a Doom Metal musician, this band was quite important to me in their early days. Their first three albums were milestones of Doom, and also the Pentecost III EP.
The 4th album was not Doom anymore but still is a master piece.
They lost me after it, though. I had little interest in Fine Day to Exit and everything after it. I can respect the quality of the music though.
They unfortunately also were one of those bands who just can't simply develop into something different (which would of course be fine). No, they also had to constantly piss over their Metal fans. Why not just move on and be grateful that Metal fans started your career? Why not be happy that people still enjoy your old stuff, even if you don't like it anymore? But no, instead they keep telling everyone to this day how stupid Metal is, and how dumb the fans are.
I saw them live last time on the Exit tour, and they publically mocked a fan in the audience who had asked for "Sleepless". Unnecessary.
I never met them in person, but I know a dozen people who did, and Anneke Van Giersbergen was actually the only one who had something positive to say about Danny Cavanagh. That guy also claimed to be the inventor of modern Doom Metal, and he called my buddy Kostas from Pantheist a dumb idiot just because he said Anathema were more interesting as a Doom band.
If things that Duncan Pettersson and Darren White told backstage are true, Cavanagh belongs in prison, actually. But it's hearsay, so I choose to believe in innocence until proven otherwise.
All in all, it taints their music for me.
Every time I listen to the great old albums, I need to remind myself that they were different, cool people back then.
It's really sad, because Silent Enigma is such a great album. I owe so much to that record.
