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Anacrusis > Screams and Whispers > Reviews
Anacrusis - Screams and Whispers

Anacrusis' Ascendance - 95%

kroagnon, February 28th, 2021

Before Screams and Whispers, Anacrusis had a string of exemplary albums behind them, but all of these albums were, in some way or the other, flawed. Suffering Hour had a certain lack of polish and one genuinely bad song, Reason had a certain youthful stylistic whiplash throughout that impeded listenability, and Manic Impressions had a truly terrible production. But then came Screams and Whispers, which is, in a nutshell, one of the closest things to a perfect album I've ever heard.

I'll reiterate: this thing is very nearly perfect. Every single song on it is an absolute work of art, the culmination of a career. From "Sound the Alarm" all the way to "Brotherhood", there's not one song I would rate below 8/10, and most are a good deal higher than that. The urgent chorus of "Sense of Will", the progressive keyboard interludes on "Too Many Prophets", the desperate hopeful negativity from the Manic Impressions holdover "Tools of Separation", the list goes on. I could give dozens of such examples. The band here does something rare: they demonstrate the ability to make seemingly effortless extremely catchy songs, but then then deliberately don't do this in places, instead opting for stranger fare. That sense of having mastered the conventional song and then going beyond is something few bands have (one obvious one to my mind is Rush). The catchy songs shine through on here more than any other Anacrusis album, striking a near-perfect balance. Screams and Whispers doesn't have every single good point of the band's other albums, but it's a tremendous synthesis of the lot of them. There's never a point on this thing where the listener will think "Oh, well, here's the filler." Any filler is nonexistent, and the prospect of every song on this coming up next is exciting.

Keyboards make a much larger appearance on this album than any of the previous ones, generally to tremendous effect. They tend to work best on the songs where they're used to create contrast with the heavier sections, like "Driven" and "Grateful". The final song of the album (and their longest since Suffering Hour), "Brotherhood", features perhaps the most ambitious use of this. Roughly the first half of the song is the main riff from their old demo song "Vulture's Prey" (finally on an album proper) with rewritten lyrics, and the second half is an extended piece of orchestration. The orchestration is quite good, and while it could frankly be said to drag a bit, considering the context of the song (the final song of the final album), it's much more acceptable. A final and graceful fade-out for one of the most underrated metal bands there was. In a sense, the keyboards feel like the final missing piece of the band to be filled in; their presence thoroughly enriches the album, and adds yet another dimension of variety to the mix.

Lyrically speaking, Anacrusis remain at the top of their game, with much the same quasi-angst-ridden fare of the last two albums. However, they also subvert this with "Grateful", a tremendously good song (and perhaps the best example of keyboard-guitar interplay on the album). "Grateful" is about, well, being grateful for something. It's very well-written, and wisely placed in about the middle of the album, providing a nice break from the more depressing fare. It's notable lyrically for being perhaps the most unambiguously positive song in the whole band's discography, as yet another example of the variety on this album. I'm not going to call Screams and Whispers as good as Manic Impressions lyrically speaking, the band get lost in the weeds of abstraction at times, but Manic Impressions is a very high bar. Tone aside, many bands would be glad indeed to get anywhere near the lyrical level of this album.

This is also perhaps Anacrusis' most progressive album. Songs like "Too Many Prophets" and "A Screaming Breath" almost flaunt how very obviously not in 4/4 they are. In true Anacrusis fashion, these songs come off a deliberate rejections of the norm, practically oozing with creativity. Some stuff, like "Division", was more aggressively weird than anything they had done before. Some songs (the remix of "Release" at the end of the album highlights this) sound as if influenced by progressive rock of old.

Performance-wise, all members shine here. Nardi and Heidbreder trade off guitar parts masterfully, Paul Miles does a good job with the parts heavily influenced by the band's previous drummer, and John Emery puts out what is most likely his best bass performance with the band. On Screams and Whispers, the bass is sometimes as important a driver of the song as the guitars. It's both rare and refreshing to see large sections of metal songs that sound like they were written around the bass part. On vocals, Kenn Nardi has come a long way since Suffering Hour. He may have lost a certain edge, but he also sounds like a trained singer now. Perhaps most importantly, he retains that shrieking thing, which remains a key part of the band's sound, ratcheting up intensity when necessary. This may be Anacrusis' least heavy album, but it's still metal. Production-wise, as well, the band finally got it right here. This is arguably the best-sounding album of Anacrusis' discography. Every instrument sounds good both in itself and next to the other ones.

I could go on in excruciating detail about just how very good this album is, but all good things must come to an end. Anacrusis, unfortunately, is counted among those good things. As it turned out, Screams and Whispers was the band's swan song. As Kenn Nardi said in a recent interview, "By the time we had done the European tour with Death, I remember thinking it was odd because I didn't have a single riff or song or even thought of new music for another Anacrusis album...There was nothing." After said tour with Death, Anacrusis folded, leaving behind Screams and Whispers as their final, and greatest, testament. However, the story doesn't end there. Some 16 years later, the band reunited. They played some dates in festivals and their hometown of St. Louis, and rerecorded their first two albums. A new album was said to be in the works, but this didn't last. Founding guitarist Kevin Heidbreder left the band, to be replaced by Mike Henricks, and not long after that, the band folded once again (though an enormous Nardi solo album did spring forth from that period). Nonetheless, this second split was assumed by pretty much everyone to be the final nail in the Anacrusis coffin. However, this was not the case. Sometime late last year, I was utterly astonished to learn that Anacrusis had announced their reunion. This reunion extended only as far as a single one-off show with all the band's lineups in St. Louis, but that was enough. A bit over a year ago, I flew out to St. Louis for a weekend on the cheapest plane tickets I could find, and saw, for the first and almost certainly last time, a live Anacrusis show. Now that's what I call closure. To say it was very good does not do it justice, but this review saying Screams and Whispers is very good doesn't do it justice either. Go have a listen, you won't regret it.


"For all our wandering,
we've still so far to go...
For all the questioning,
we've still the need to know...
Are we still the frightened child?
Are we still the angered youth?
Or are we old before our time?
Are we getting any closer, to the truth..."

Sound the alarm: "this album sucks" - 40%

Gas_Snake, December 3rd, 2020

When discussing music, it is sometimes tempting to say that someone simply doesn't get an artist. In this case, I suppose you could say that I don't get Anacrusis. To the people who gave them glowing reviews on this site, they are masters of progressive thrash metal that possess a unique, emotional sound like few others do. To me, they are a fundamentally broken band that puts on a mask of intellectuality while trying to disguise their core of insipid groove riffs, meandering songwriting, and one of the worst vocalists I've heard in all of heavy music (that includes obvious "vocalist" hacks like Robb Flynn and your everyday generic deathcore kid). I've already reviewed "Manic Impressions", calling it their worst album, but this followup, "Screams And Whispers", can safely be called their second worst.

The sound here is pretty much the next step in wimpiness from "Manic Impressions". Typical of a 90's album, they dropped the thrash completely this time, and thus, the amount of truly aggressive riffs on this album can be counted on one hand. The core sound has fully shifted to sugared-up groove metal with occasional prog rock leads and meandering riff constructions. But there's also a new addition to this album: disjointed keyboard parts. In many of the songs, the grooves interchange with short bursts of vaguely symphonic synth sounds, and it only causes those sounds to clash with each other. What really pisses me off about these synths, though, is the fact that the band almost never uses them for anything significant. They're either there for a weak attempt at atmosphere, or they get solo breaks that don't develop and still clash with the other sections of the songs.

The production is largely the same story. I will admit that it sounds clearer and somewhat more lively than "Manic Impressions", but the overall feel of the sound is still sterile, emotionless, and effectively detrimental to any sense of testosterone-fueled metalness. One thing that must specifically be mentioned is the sound of the drums, which is so clean and processed that it's basically unable to convey any aggression. Finally, these qualities also apply to the worst of all: the vocals. They also sound much clearer than they've ever sounded, which means you will be constantly paying attention to them, but good lord, are they atrocious...

Ken Nardi as a vocalist is as terrible as ever. I already elaborated on his terrible vocal stylings in my review of "Manic Impressions", but now I will do so in a different manner. He has three settings: mallcore rasp, lullabies, and Dani Filth. The first and third options are self-explanatory. The second one (as can be heard in "Tools Of Separation") I have named after the only thing I can imagine the style could work with; it actually sounds like a cross between faux-operatic softness and grunge "yarling" abortions. Like on "Manic Impressions", he still switches between them whenever he damn well feels like it, creating a pointless clusterfuck of bad vocal stylings. That said, unlike the previous album, I can't recall any moments where he completely aborts all sense of not sucking and clears his throat or blows into the mic or some other such fuckery on the actual recording. That is also the one reason why I'm giving this album a higher rating than that of "Manic Impressions", as that one actually made me wonder how did the band members manage to miss such a thing.

The lyrical content has also declined in quality. Gone are the depressing, heartfelt words of a broken, disillusioned man that made their place on the previous album. The lyrics here are instead preachy, tired, cynical swill, not unlike what Chuck Schuldiner devolved into after he became a misguided proglord and philosophical cosmonaut. See "Sound The Alarm" and "Division" for exquisite examples of a tired old man wallowing, disconnected from the rest of society. Or "Grateful" for that coupled with a fucking mallcore chorus for a middle break (yes, really). Or all of the other songs, because they're more of the same. Couple this with the fact that Ken Nardi is the one delivering them, and... yeah, you're out of luck.

The first two songs "Sound The Alarm" and "Sense Of Will" are the best songs here, with ideas that actually work together properly. The former is highlighted by the underlying clean guitar line supporting a mid-paced groove, and the latter coasts on swaggering, upbeat riffs and proper usage of melodic breaks. The other highlights are the last two songs. "Driven", despite the usual terrible vocals, actually flows very well and has decent melodies in the intro riffs and the verses, along with an okay groove in the main riff. The closer "Brotherhood" stands out as the one song that actually bothers to properly use the synths. After a clean guitar intro and the usual groove, it smoothly flows into a solo break for the synths, and uses a large variety of orchestral sounds for a beautiful, foreboding melody... but, of course, after a minute or so, it promptly discards it for more grooving. Goddammit.

Past that, their well of good ideas suddenly dries up. "Too Many Prophets" and "Grateful" are filled with clashing synths, sounding discordant and disjointed. Not even the cool jazzy Atheist/Watchtower kind of discordant - this sounds like the band doesn't know what they're going for. "Release" basically rides one riff in one key with slight alterations here and there. "Division" is my pick for the worst song this band ever wrote. The intro and the verses attempt to convey desperation, as Nardi spits out his pathetic mallcorisms over a thrashy drum beat and a demented synth line... with NO GUITAR PARTS to back them up. I wish I was fucking kidding, but it's true - they're attempting to be aggressive without any guitar playing, let alone riffs or, God forbid, METAL riffs.

"Screams And Whispers" is, at the end of the day, just another misguided album by a misguided band, without any songs worth hearing more than a couple of times. To anyone who worships this album as a masterpiece of prog metal: I'm sorry, but I'm just not hearing it anywhere. If you want to hear an album with a dreamy, groovy, oppressive style that actually works, I direct you to Kreator's "Renewal" and Coroner's "Grin"; two albums that I could very well call the highlights of this "transitional period" for thrashers. Both are atmospheric, both sound absolutely massive (though in very different ways), and both make great use of genuine, honest-to god riffs (though, once again, they are used for very different purposes). This album, however, can go burn in the "crappy prog metal" section of Hell, whereupon it will forever be violated by Voivod and The Unholy Tech-Thrash Trinity of 1989.

P.S.: It has come to my attention that Ken Nardi has released a solo album titled "Dancing With The Past" in 2014 that consists of basically 2.5 hours of similarly styled music to this album. I didn't pay much attention to the music, but his vocal technique has not improved a single bit, and with modern, even more vocal-centric production, it somehow sounds EVEN WORSE. Good fucking riddance.

The Finest Exit from the Scene Ever? - 100%

bayern, December 21st, 2011

The early-90's were transitional times for the old metal genres, with many of the thrash metal practitioners packing up in a hurry and leaving, or changing more or less appropriately to the up-and-coming aggro/groovy tastes. Those who arrived relatively late on the scene (the late-80's, that is) still had something left to say after the decade was over, and continued releasing albums, more or less regularly. Of those latecomers Anacrusis were by far the most talented act, and they easily overshadowed other strivers for technical greatness (Annihilator, to name one) with their unique brand of atmosphere and precise technical riffage, which so many contemporary bands try to emulate, but to no success.

"Manic Impressions" was already a masterpiece, and acts who like to play it safely, could have stopped there, to put an end to their career with style without messing it up. Well, Anacrusis decided to give it another go, and to the fans' utter surprise, they manage to score higher... incredible, but a fact. There was no need in a shift in direction, but the band's swansong has become slower, darker, and more atmospheric. Ken Nardy's vocal delivery should have stayed intact, though; and, relax, this is exactly the case. The man's highly individual mix of aggressive snarls and shouts, sometimes to the point of a death metal intensity, and sorrowful clean tirades couldn't have found a more appropriate musical setting than this one-of-a-kind progressive thrash opera, which pulls you in from the get-go with the dramatic, hypnotic riffage of the opening "Sound the Alarm". The dark, pessimistic tone of the opener is immaculately sustained by a string of songs which share the same bleak, sombre qualities thanks to the consistent very sharp riffage, and the predominant solid mid-pace.

Those who expected to headbang, like they did on quite a few tracks from "Manic Impressions", are eventually given a chance with the surprisingly faster "Division", which boasts standout bass performance, which pounds its way forward supported by fast echoing drums. A nice twist, which leads to other niceties after it: the engaging progressive "opera" "Tools of Separation", where the atmosphere reaches heights not heard before; the short tecnical puzzler "Screaming Breath"; the more laid-back dynamic shredder "My Souls Affliction". There is no concentration on speed anymore, and the listener will have no choice, but to adapt to the prevalent ultra-sharp mid-tempo approach, spiced with numerous other "tools" (but not of "separation"): haunting keyboards, operatic organ inclusions, sudden balladic interludes; even a remake of a song from the same album, "Release", as a finishing touch: another innovation later used by many modern bands; done with more emphasis on the balladic/atmospheric side of the composition.

One could hardly think of a more deserving end to a career, something which most of the band's rivals on the technical metal stage failed to achieve as well (Coroner's "Grin" was already too modern and industrial-sounding without too many reverberations from their early days; Deathrow's "Life Beyond" did anything else, but to move "beyond" the greatness of "Deception Ignored"; Voivod and Sieges Even abandoned the thrash idea, almost beyond recognition; Living Death returned to their more immediate speed/thrashy roots on "Killing in Action"); and hardly has there been another band who managed to reach two consecutive creative peaks within such a short span of time (did someone say, "Metallica!"; did I also hear, "Coroner!"). Alas, the band decided to take the wiser decision to disband, before succumbing to the modern trends, which were taking "victims" left and right at the time. They are alive and well, by the way, like a few recently released compilation albums show, but they should think wisely: whatever "screams" or "whispers" they manage to come up with next, they should live up to expectations steadfastly nurtured and accumulated for more than 18 years...

So "sound the alarm", folks!

An Often Overlooked Masterpiece - 100%

Technical101, December 23rd, 2008

Anacrusis fourth album, Screams and Whispers, combines all the elements of their last 3 recordings and polishes up on past production troubles to create not only one of the best metal albums of the 90's, but a masterpiece that transcends musical classifications and should forever be remembered. Sadly it's been tossed into obscurity along with such classics as Mekong Delta-Dances of Death and Believer-Dimensions.

Line-Up:
Kenn Nardi - vocals, guitars
Kevin Heidbreder - guitars
John Emery - Bass
Paul Miles - drums

Guitars: Guitar duties are shared by Nardi and Heidbreder and all solo's, except 2, are done by Nardi. There are some killer riffs here but nothing as fast or brutal as their thrash contemporaries. What they lack in speed and brutality though they make up for with creativity and originality. Not that this is metal-lite, there are plenty of head banging moments but Nardi focused on the music first and the thrash second. The guitars are the core of the Anacrusis sound and are atmospheric from start to finish. The solo's range from soft and melodic to blazing out your speakers, but always go well with the music. Nardi and Heidbreder switch from slow, light passages to heavy hitting riffs with relative ease. Nardi isn't the greatest guitarist in the genre but knows exactly how to use them to set the right tone and lead the music in the right direction.


Bass: For starters, Emery's bass is always audible and is high in the mix. It stands on it's own from the guitars and gives the music an extra dimension. Emery is an excellent bassist and he's used here to great effect. There are smooth bass lines that slither under the music and loud sludging lines that almost have a mechanical feel to them. Screams and Whispers would not be near as perfect if it weren't for the excellent bass work.


Drums: Sadly Anacrusis lost Chad Smith on drums who was a highlight on their last album, Manic Impressions. He was replaced by Paul Miles and, though he doesn't exactly fill Smith's shoes, he gets the job done. His cymbal work and nice beats fit the atmosphere of the album well. While not an outstanding perfromance, Miles complements the music and doesn't hinder it at all.

Keyboards: Yep... keyboards. But don't worry, no solos or Dream Theater stuff here. Keyboards never take over the music but add the extra bit of atmosphere that the other instruments couldn't. A thrash metal band using keyboards is unheard of but i must admit it was an excellent choice by Nardi to include them.


Vocals: Ahh... The final instrument of Screams and Whispers, and arguably the best. Let it be known that Kenn Nardi has some of the best vocals in metal. Whether he be singing, screaming, talking, shrieking, growling, barking, yelling, or whispering he always does an amazing job. His mesmerizing voice is all over the dial but doesn't come off as inconsistent or annoying. His range never ceases to amaze me. On top of all that there are a couple of instances where he uses a slightly robotic voice too. This is Nardi's best vocal performance of his career.


Lyrics: Anacrusis wrote some well thought out lyrics and Screams and Whispers are where most of them can be found. The topics deal with life and the many pitfalls of the human mind and the human race. It's really interesting and goes extremely well with the music. It's also nice that this band broke away from the cliche's of metal, not only with their music, but with their lyrics as well.


Production: No matter how perfect a band performs, an album can't be a masterpiece with bad production. That's not the case on Screams and Whispers though, and one could say it's perfect. Gone is the cold, hard, mechanic feel of Manic Impressions. Screams and Whispers has a life of it's own and the production helps it emit a dark and moody feeling. This album also doesn't feel dated at all, fifteen years later. Absolutely top-notch.


Screams and Whispers is one for the history books and, hopefully, music fans will find their way to this masterpiece sooner rather than later. You'll never hear anything quite like this. It's creative, original, and never gets boring. Anacrusis have outdone themselves and any collection must have this often overlooked classic.

Once More, Into the Breach... - 89%

OlympicSharpshooter, March 18th, 2008

1992: Somewhere deep in the chilly futuristic laboratory where Anacrusis recorded Manic Impressions, songwriter Kenn Nardi sat at his cutting edge Macintosh Quadra 700 listening to Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (the soundtrack of the future!) and working on lyrics for the band’s as yet untitled follow-up. Squinting to read the green letters on the black screen in the harsh glare of the overhead purple fluorescent light fixtures they’d had installed to match the last album’s cover (one of those seemed-good-at-the-time decisions he was rapidly coming to regret), he made a few final revisions to a piece he had tentatively decided to call “Release”:

We seduce the past
And draw it close
And hold it tight
And never let it go
Until we hurt ourselves
And hate ourselves
And blame ourselves again
Again...


He scratched his chin as he read the dot matrix print-out. The words were in his usual mildly poetic, dour and thought-provoking style, but something just didn’t seem right. He knew there was potential in the riffs the band had been knocking around in rehearsals, a sparse mid-tempo sound that was nevertheless provocative and very memorable. But there was something about the way it felt, so detached and cold, so… so… Manic Impressions. The new project seemed dead before it had even been properly born. Just then he felt a strange urge to go outside and stretch, to breathe in air that hadn’t been recycled a half-dozen times.

As he stepped out the door the sun was breaking the horizon, and in its nascent red glow he felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his chest. It was like his lungs, so long constricted, were finally being allowed to expand out to their natural breadth. And in that moment he knew how to fix the forthcoming record. He’d forgotten what an important thing it is to breathe and be alive, and his music had begun to convey his overly mechanical outlook. He rushed back into the lab and began to pry away the boards that covered the windows. He unplugged the Macintosh and took a hatchet to the Nintendo PowerGlove he’d been using to play his guitars. He even rid himself of the gizmos that had throttled his amp into producing the lifeless, gated tones that had marred his previous efforts (relieved that no metal band would ever again use such soulsucking sounds again within his lifetime). He was ready to begin again.

-

Well, alright. I made that up. But something like it must’ve happened when Nardi, realizing what the problem was with the production on Manic Impressions (which he’d never been satisfied with anyway) decided to make a change. As good as Manic Impressions was, as admirable an artistic achievement, it could scarcely be characterized as a viscerally enjoyable record. Marrying the massively dreary attitude of its predecessor Reason to a rigid n’ frigid production the likes of which made …And Justice for All sound like Motown, Manic Impressions was some kind of new watermark in mechanical misery. But the moment “Sound the Alarm” comes pounding out of the gate, it's like a fist shattering the ice that had developed around their sound. The enthusiasm and energy that permeated Suffering Hour is emphatically back, and if nothing here is quite as frantic as “Fighting Evil”, the trade-off is more than worth it when one takes into consideration the fact that Screams also retains the impressive braininess of its immediate forerunner. It is the ultimate summation of all of the aspects that made each era of this band great.

Anacrusis were writing and playing as if they knew that this record represents their final blossoming, and the “Sense of Will” that infuses every moment of Screams and Whispers is invigorating. If Nardi’s shriek isn’t as hair-whitening as it was on Reason, he makes up for it with the best overall vocal performance he ever recorded (until Cruel April, but that’s a decade and a lifetime later). By stripping away the effects he experimented with on Manic Impressions and bringing his natural voice back to the fore, Nardi puts more emphasis on his remarkably nuanced and controlled approach to singing. He still does a bit too much of that robotic talk-singing thing, but he’s developed a keen instinct for when the song requires a grunt, a growl, a shriek, a shout or even his pleasant and expressive clean vocals. The array of vocal styles he employs is actually comparable with those of some modern metalcore bands, but unlike the majority of them there seems to be real consideration put into when and where to use each one.

Similarly the expansive prog elements the band had honed to a blinding sheen by Manic Impressions retain their tastefulness, but Screams and Whispers is considerably less atmospheric. There all of the sections, whether they were thrashy, doomy or queerly psychedelic, were so holistically integrated that one’s mood as they listened did not change distinctly. Even the dourest songs on Screams, like “Division”, sound more diverse. Even if the echo-drenched Dimension: Hatröss-era Voivod mood of the song’s intro gives you a yen to enter your hypercube, the blockbuster breakdown later on will leave you more inclined to crash the pit. And right there again is illustrated the beauty of the record, in the beauty of that dichotomy between textbook thrash fun and uh… textbook-level smarts.

It’s a contrast that runs throughout the record, even unto the illustration. The spaced-out licks and synthy squawks on “Grateful” (apparently he didn’t toss that O.M.D. record while he was cleaning up the lab) eventually collide four minutes later with perhaps the most extreme breakdown the band ever composed. Ambient keys give way to a straight-ahead jackhammer hardcore riff and post-Slayer wah-wrecking solo, which collapses in on itself and becomes a brisk, quintessentially melodic thrash riff with accompanying guttural bellows from Nardi. And all the while hints of the band’s emergent symph-metal tendencies pop by to say hello, here and there, elliptically, in the background. It’s capital P prog, but it rarely becomes so self-involved that it wears on your patience. You always know something else interesting is going to come bounding around the corner.

And if that isn’t testament enough to their compositional abilities, the directness of the band’s all-time best song more than testifies. I’m referring to “Release”, a song that is beautiful without being the least bit abstracted, intense without having to change riffs every five seconds. It’s built around big sustained chords that only really get shuffling come chorus time, but there’s none of the kind of abuse of dynamics that their modern rock contemporaries were busily systematizing. It’s just a song aware of its strengths that gets in, gets things done and gets out. There’s a lesson to be learned in that, and I wish Anacrusis had been given more time to develop and expand upon their teachings.

On that note, I’m reminded of an old saying that’s trucked out every time a great band breaks up too soon: “They say it’s better to burn out than to fade away.” There’s something to that I suppose. But, to dust off some words I haven’t had occasion to use in a review for quite a while, fuck that shit. And fuck Them, whoever They may be while you’re at it. Anacrusis are one of the very few bands who markedly improved with each subsequent release, and it’s a real shame that their collapse deprived us of Kenn Nardi’s songwriting for over a decade. I am convinced that this band was on the verge of crafting their magnum opus, and metal is the worse off for their calling it quits. But if Screams and Whispers is not quite the apex of what they had the potential to achieve, it’s still a pretty awesome piece of work. This is not the work of a band that burned out so much as it is a flame that burns eternal. It’s one of the few lonely beacons in an oversaturated metal marketplace, a signal to those with a yearning to achieve something beyond this dismal pale. Even in the ruins of this band’s career, I hope Nardi and the others know that they have a lot to be proud of. But as fetching as that consolation prize may be, considering how many bigger bands have left a legacy I wouldn’t trade the gunk I clean from under my toenails for, it just isn’t enough. So allow me to do a little more imagining to conclude this, my review of a fine catalogue and the end of a process I started almost four years ago now.

-

Anacrusis releases its fourth LP, which the band has chosen to call Screams and Whispers, to an enthusiastic public in May of 1993. The release is quickly hailed as a paradigm shift in metal, and its revitalizing effect on the thrash subgenre helps it to thrive alongside the burgeoning grunge movement. The band tours with Soundgarden and King’s X, and by the end of the year the album has even found a place on a few of the more open-minded mainstream critics’ year-end best lists. The sun beams down on Kenn Nardi as he proudly hangs his first gold record on the wall of his new house, reflecting off of the gleaming metal and onto the bright future of his band. And then he sits down with his guitar, and begins to craft his masterpiece.

-

I think we can all agree, my ending is better.

Stand-Out Tracks: “Release”, “My Soul’s Affliction”, “Driven”

It's a classic. A hidden gem. - 92%

olo, November 21st, 2007

Agreed, if you're a metalhead anywhere near/over 30 and/or have been collecting all the Metal Blade releases from their glory days, you already have this or at least heard this. Also agreed, if you were a thrash metaller from back in the days you probably hated this band when they came out with this album because from what I hear, before this album, these guys were your regular American thrash band playing your regular thrash metal. Now, nothing wrong with that at all because I dig my dose of generic thrash but when a band takes a turn in styles to release an album as excellent as this, you've got to appreciate it.

"Screams and Whispers" is the band's fourth and final album and what a way to go, if you ask me. I've always thought Nevermore and followed later by Communic played Power, Progressive and Thrash Metal without taking any of the standard songwriting ideas and riffing routes. In other words, they are power, prog and thrash metal without sounding like your regular power, prog and thrash metal. But I didn't know this album existed till a month ago. This album would fit very nicely next to those.

Anacrusis, with this album [1992/93] did a lot of things that predates what metal bands would do in the future. First thing I noticed were those vocal ideas and some groovy riffing that remind you of what Nevermore (and Communic) did a little later. That's not the only thing that this album predates. The harmonized lead riffs (for the lack of better term), some occasional mindblowing screams/screeches and clean singing over extremely down tuned guitars by (guitarist/vocalist/chief-songwriter/producer) Kenn Nardi, the innovative and groovy rhythm section and so on.

One interesting observation about looking at the band picture in the inlay. A full-on metal band with a guitarist playing a 3-single-coiled fender stratocaster. That's rare.

The songwriting is very experimental/progressive, varied and always interesting. A metal band for that time that never used any of the cliches in their songwriting and arrangements for sure. There are extreme parts in the music but in general, things are mid-paced with major emphasis on melodies, dynamics, groove and down-tuned guitar goodness. All the best songs in metal have excellent peaks and with this band on this album, every song has a few of them.

I don't want to keep shoving praises down all you readers' throats but if you want to judge this album by a single fucking song, check out track#7 "grateful". The bands ideas peak right here and after all these listens this is also my favourite track on the album. In parts, this is even close to Faith No More if they were playing heavier/thrash(y) metal. Doesn't take anything away from the rest of the album because this is as consistent as an album ever gets.


Go to their website, they've got a lot of tracks for free download. If you like what you hear and want to buy their albums then all the best. They're pretty rare now and are already going for high prices. This release is the easiest to find and (hence) the cheapest, so really, it's not all that bad.

Many thanks to kvltsite's very own Gautham for hooking me up with this album.

Sound the Alarm! - 87%

GTF, January 25th, 2005

Wholly original songwriting and a band at its peak are what is on show for Anacrusis' swan song, Screams and Whispers. From their humble speed-over-speed beginnings, Anacrusis progressed into one of the hidden gems of metal, eschewing their predatory speed for an inventive and excellent dedication to songwriting. While the guitar tone has evolved throughout the years, it is still harsh and borderline painful. The bass clangs and grunts (especially when it leads in songs like A Screaming Breath). The mix is stiff, and yet the songs still come out from underneath it. I would love to hear this album remastered (the guitar and bass at very least), keeping Ken Nardi's distinctive screeches. So for an album and a band who focused on their songs, let's begin the songs.

Sound The Alarm has a very attention grabbing intro, followed by a plain excellent verse. Ken Nardi's clean vocals have improved since Manic Impressions, and his screeches have shown no signs of weakening. Sense of Will follows up with a very Californian riff played to very non-Californian backing music. The transition to the bridge and to the chorus are both very excellent, Too Many Prophets is the first to feature the new 'orchestration' of Anacrusis, and moves in a very disjointed and interesting way. It lacks a big chorus, but isn't exactly a lowlight.

Release is an absolute monster, this has all the anthemic qualities that would've made it a metal classic in the mid-80s; lyrical riff, tuneful chorus, and excellent thematic changes. Release is a must have. Division is a little too adventurous, downright stupid sometimes. Fast drums accompany disjointed clean guitars and spoken vocals in a verse that's more perplexing than rocking. Release makes up for half of it, and the following song, Tools of Seperation makes up the other. An immensely hummable chorus with an awesome use of the orchestration and competant drumming lead the song. Grateful works best in its clean parts, the heavy parts let down the subtle melodies of the clean bits. A Screaming Breath is a challenging, rocking progressive thrash piece. Nardi really carries the song, but the off-kilter drumming and great choppy guitarwork make it great as well.

My Soul's Affliction is like if Division were improved upon with a huge chorus. Driven is one of the heavier numbers, more pure heavy than the other songs. These are all chump change to the album's closer, Brotherhood? This song is truly epic, and is a fitting close to Anacrusis. The orchestration carries the song, but Nardi's vocals and guitar work aren't to be discredited. The songwriting here is gigantic, and the drums are very well integrated. Probably my favorite song on the album.

The re-release has a remix of Release with a more definite clean intro, and a really cool clean strumming piece in the chorus. A great song, but I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the remix. This is a pickup for the metal fan looking for something original, from what I have picked up through the metal grapevine it is reminiscient of Voivod's work, though I cannot judge. Definetely worth a spin, though, especially if you can find an actual copy of the album somewhere (also recommended is their previous, Manic Impressions).