Alternative 4 - Anathema

While 'Eternity' left behind most of the metal elements from Anathema's early years, 'Alternative 4' is their final album that could be reasonably labelled as doom metal for evoking the same melancholy atmosphere, albeit in a mostly lighter fashion with the heavy guitars all but replaced by acoustic and the death growl vocals now firmly a thing of the past. Not yet going the full way to prog rock throwback, this is still authentic old-school Anathema with a less aggressive approach, with a greater focus on atmosphere but one that doesn't come at a cost to the music itself. Vincent Cavanagh's soft vocals still have a nice amateur edge, particularly on the rare ...  Read the complete review