Album Rating: 2.5

Untouchable 1 is the perfect example of sounds like a million bucks and feels like nothing at all. cleaner is not necessarily better



Gathering is a dece tune tho

Album Rating: 3.5

Great dishwashing music.

Album Rating: 3.5

'Untouchable 1' was the perfect song at the perfect time for me, I'd put it in their top 5 songs so I'm on a different page to you there. 'Gathering' is top 5 too.

Album Rating: 4.0

"Untouchable Part 1" is my favourite on WS.

Album Rating: 2.5

I don't hate it outright but cmon compare the two



But my love will never die

And my feelings will always shine



There's a feeling that I can't describe

There's a reason that I cannot hide





with





But since you've been gone I've been lost inside

Tried and failed as we walked by the riverside

And I wish you could see the love in her eyes

The best friend that eluded you lost in time

Burned alive in the heat of a grieving mind

Album Rating: 4.0

Aww cmon rowbro what don't you like about this one?

Album Rating: 3.5

Shows the game ain't played on paper - I've been close to tears with the former, the latter is pretty but never moved me beyond that. Also...I way prefer the stripped down 'Hindsight' version

Album Rating: 4.0

Anathema definitely overdosed on cheese following A Natural Disaster, but with the record it seems like they're dialing it back to tolerable levels.

Album Rating: 2.5

I pretty much said it all already mongi, they've been writing the same song for four albums and it's really starting to grate. Technically lovely but anything below the surface is completely lost. This time around we get the added fun of a pale Temporary Peace imitation with the closer, blegh



Swap em around doof! The latter is about the Cavanaugh mother passing away and the former is a cheesy sappy love song

Rowan I'm really not sure how you can listen to something like "Close Your Eyes" or "Wildfires" or "Leaving It Behind" and say that they sound anything like the material of the last three albums. There's a lot of diversity here. I can see your gripe with something like "Endless Ways" or the title track but beyond those there are some really innovative and fresh moments here.

Album Rating: 2.5

Atmospheric pretty music with echoey vocals? Sounds pretty much like the last three albums to me. Honestly your best example for diversity is Can't Let Go which is also the best tune on here by a mile. Wildfires especially really annoys me with the "hey instead of writing a chorus let's just reverb this one word to eternity"

This is getting a mixed reception eh? Satellites was cool so def gonna give this a go.

Album Rating: 3.5

That string theme on Back to the Start is slightly nauseating. Sounds like Oasis.

Album Rating: 4.0

This honestly sounds nothing like anything on WS or DS

It sounds at times like the last few tracks on DS, and the tracks I mentioned above do sound like other tracks on those albums... but Leaving It Behind as well as the stretch from Springfield to Wildfires are all totally unique.

And yeah Pleb you should check this. Most people who don't like this seem to just not like newer Anathema in the first place so if you enjoyed the last 2-3 albums then you should like it

Album Rating: 4.5

I don't know brothers, after a couple of "meh" albums following their masterpiece We're Here...this album is a shot in the arm. I think it's the production that really stands out. Excellent review and thanks.

Album Rating: 3.5

Untouchable 1 isn't a love song, it's a red raw 'freshly lost love' song - and as I haven't lost my mother yet (touch wood) losing a lover resonated/resonates more with me :/



First time I saw Untouchable 1 played live it was incredible, really moving. It's the best of the 'Deep' on steroids' type tune they keep rewriting.



'I had to let you go...'



The fact it still reads like a 'love song' when that love is dead...it's an amazing song, because you do sort of still love that person, and you haven't done anything wrong as such. Its a complex visceral emotion and that song nails it unlike many others imo. I went on holiday soon after a two year relationship breakup and I used to run to the first three songs on the album every day while I was there. It was this weirdly cathartic thing. 'Gathering of the Clouds' is equally as emotionally devastating for me.



The moment the drums finally enter on 'Gathering...' is their best moment...'time is up...it's happening to me...release release'. Imagine not being moved by that song.



Still only 3.5'd the album itself though :D

Album Rating: 3.0

his vocals in leaving it behind sound like maynard

Album Rating: 2.5

i do like this album, but i don't really feel like it has quite enough substance or meat to it to compare to distant satellites and whbwh. some of the songs seem to fizzle out just as i'm getting into them (wildfires, close your eyes, back to the start), some tracks feel far too 'by the motions' (can't let go), some tracks feel completely useless or i just don't like (san francisco, leaving it behind)...



title track really is the highlight though, absolutely stunning display.

Don't really understand the love for the t/t tbh. It's alright. It ends well. But it takes a while to get going.

And yeah, Untouchable (both parts) is an incredible song, though I do find the lyrics insufferably cheesy. The climaxes in both movements are just stunning.

I think Weather Systems is still better than either this or Distant Satellites. As much as I at times prefer the style of the latest two albums, WS is more consistently amazing front to back. DS and this album especially have some major holes.