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Anathema > The Crestfallen EP > Reviews
Anathema - The Crestfallen EP

Anathema - The Crestfallen EP - 91%

Gothic_Metalhead, July 21st, 2018
Written based on this version: 1992, CD, Peaceville Records

1992 was still a developing year for both gothic and death-doom. By the time Anathema releases they're first EP 'The Crestfallen', Paradise Lost had release two legendary albums 'Lost Paradise' and 'Gothic', Type O Negative had released they're first album months after 'Gothic' was released, and Winter who had released 'Into Darkness' back in 1990 had broken up. Though My Dying Bride had not released a LP by that time, they released their first EP as well just a year ago, thus bringing in more bands for this new form of death metal music. Anathema, who came in third place out of the peaceville three bands in terms of whom released material first, came in and released 'The Crestfallen' and not much background on the EP other than being one of the earliest releases of the band. The EP Musically sounds like they took inspiration from Paradise Lost, but in a way it is much more than just a Paradise Lost copycat, the EP is very impressive for its time, and has great qualities that make Anathema different from the other two of the peaceville three. I had the opportunity to hear the EP through 'Serenades' extra tracks (the one with 'All Faith is Lost')

Before I discuss the qualities this EP is capable of, I want to take a moment by talking about the cover of 'The Crestfallen.' First of all, Who is SHE? Why is SHE staring at me? Why does she look like she's going to stalk me in my nightmares? Who knows, but the cover on this EP is creepy which fits the same mold as death-doom in its rather creepy environment. Though, I wouldn't say that its the creepiest cover I've ever seen, but this lady looks ghostly and she's in black to represent her negative mood as well as what's to come in this EP. It is a nice touch rather than using images that I can't make out seeing (like Paradise Lost). It's most distorted sounds are also haunting, as the listener hears in 'They Die' it has that guitar effect that makes the EP more spooky, and that's what the spirit of death-doom should always be.

Now that the talk of a creepy staring woman is out of the way, let us talk about the music off of 'The Crestfallen'. The music sounds incredibly raw in a good way, it's not raw where it sounds lo-fi, but its raw in the sense that it gives that more darker and dirtier tone. The guitar and the instrumentals are awfully similar to Paradise Lost, even in an interview, Danny Cavanagh said that Anathema got inspiration from Paradise Lost. However, unlike Paradise Lost, 'The Crestfallen' offers some dark and sensitive material that gives the EP more emotion and depression. Good examples would be the melodic secondary guitar as heard in '...And I Lust', the female fronting and atmospheric 'Everwake', and the piano intro in 'Crestfallen'. 'Crestfallen' also does a great job in bringing that heavy, head banging rhythm to the EP, something that shows what Anathema can offer to the table of death-doom. If the listener thinks, this is before My Dying Bride bringing out emotional and romantic sounds into their music, so this makes Anathema a more unique band at the time.

Darren White also does a good job in its growling on 'The Crestfallen''. His growls were more dark, then he did it in the band's future debut album 'Serenades'. The parts where Darren and Vincent Cavanagh are growling together in 'Crestfallen' is vastly unique because it makes the song much more darker and ugly in a good way. With Darren showing more anger in his approach, Vincent would bring a more melancholic sound into the song. However, when I compare Darren's growling to the rest of the death-doom bands at the time, sure it may be darker but it's nothing new because it still sounds like it needs improvement. Nonetheless, I did enjoy the vocal performance of 'The Crestfallen' as it was in unison with the music and its rhythms.

Anathema were one of those bands that had better sounding death-doom music in their EP's and 'The Crestfallen' is clearly no exception in their formative years. Even though, they sound like a Paradise Lost copycat at the time, Anathema brought a lot of gothic-like, slow tempos and, dark atmospheres more so then Paradise Lost. 'The Crestfallen' is a great EP to listen to for those who crave that raw and slow death-doom sound of the early 1990s and it is certainly something you can't miss.

Lost in the mists of 1992 - 72%

gasmask_colostomy, June 1st, 2015

Who knew that the early '90s were so long ago? Seeing that faded cover image of the rather gorgeous yet disturbing women standing on an English moor is a lurch into a past that seems to have been left far, far away and the relative age of the music is positively ancient in comparison. There's something about the very early releases of all the Peaceville Three bands that does tie them together, the bands' protestations notwithstanding: the debut albums, and particularly the pre-debut singles and EPs all sound dated to a mind-boggling extent. The recording quality doesn't necessarily sound much older than other early '90s underground albums, but the style of playing is utterly primitive and a kind of reek comes off the music as it leaves your speakers that tells of impossibly long storage in lightless rooms.

Also, I think that none of those 3 bands would complain about this opinion. There's something crucial to death doom that requires some suggestion of having been buried in the woods for years and then dug up to solve the final link in an ancient family mystery, which a disgusting production and archaic themes tend to encourage. The Crestfallen doesn't have straight-ahead awful production like Paradise Lost's debut, but nothing sounds great in the mix, except for the beautifully shimmering 'Everwake' that is designed to sound forgotten and nostalgic rather than foreboding and nasty. That particular clean song with female vocals fares much better than the corresponding 'J'ai Fait Une Promesse' from Serenades and, apart from being the only deviation from the brutal death doom norm, is a good song in its own right.

I find myself a little split about the 2 parts of this EP, since the first 3 songs and the last 2 would appear to be slightly different in writing and recording style, though this may depend on which version you own. For the first part of the EP, the production is just right for this slow, ugly/beautiful kind of death doom. The guitars are wide and crushing, very distorted, and at the forefront of the sound, the leads particularly shining through. The vocals sound decent, like a less romantic and deeper-voiced Aaron Stainthorpe, the drums are congruent with the guitars, and the bass doesn't take too much attention. The reason why I say all this is because on my edition, 'Crestfallen' and 'They Die' sound rougher and the skill dips. The vocals are ragged and lose their grip on the listener, while the guitars get hidden behind clumsy drums and bass. However, the songs do stand together to make one coherent release.

The style of early Anathema was a strange juxtaposition between smooth, melancholy guitar leads and deformed death metal children with one leg longer than the other trying to dance. The rhythms (I'm looking at the latter half of The Crestfallen here) are sometimes absolutely horrible and do not even create distinctive riffs, just juddering patterns that do nothing for atmosphere or heaviness. Many of the riffs are dominated by bass and drums, but when we get something with recognizable shapes and moods it picks up something from the scuzzy production and works a treat, conjuring real feeling with ease. The first 2 songs definitely have the pick of the riffs and manage to express their anguish a little better: the melodies are also all over them, and these features give the release its character. They are in keeping with the gothic (we're talking pre-popular gothic, so it's not too cheesy) lyrics and they have a wonderfully creepy and morose way of leading you to lonely places and putting the fear of God into you, like that woman on the cover.

If you can get your hands on the right edition of The Crestfallen, it is an excellent early death doom release. In my opinion, the production and the songs slightly outstrip that of Serenades, and the EP stands together better as a whole, since it doesn't have so many interludes and shifts in style. It is a fairly long EP as well, which, with one more song, could have been released as the debut album and might have made Anathema more prominent amongst their peers. Now, however, it sounds old and a little damaged in places, but connoisseurs of the early '90s sound will find a lot to enjoy.

Crestfallen is pure doom metal album - 95%

My_Last_Battle, February 7th, 2012

Prologue

My relationship with this band started few years ago when my friend introduced to me to this band. At first I didn't like it, because at that time I didn't like growls which are quite typical in music like this. What made me then like this band? Well I started with lighter albums such as Judgment, Alternative 4 and A Fine Day To exit. The more I listened to this band the more I wanted to hear it even if it would be heavier. Actually Anathema led me to extreme metal and showed me the beauty of doom, black and melodic death metal. Why am I writing this? Well I think that you can't write a review if you hadn't listened to the whole production, and this fits particularly to Anathema.

Crestfallen is pure doom metal album

Harsh, simple, desperate. Those are the words that first pop up when you think Anathemas first EP, Crestfallen. The album starts with song ...And I Lust which is quite epic song. Intro is filled with distorted guitars, growls and moans making a very doomy fealing. The song rolls nicely and ends up with quite marvelous solo. The Sweet Suffering is song which is song about finding the truth and end to the suffering and the answer lies in death. Wake up! Or then don't because the song Everwake blows your mind with somniferous mood, where distorted guitars and growls have been changed to acoustic guitars and clean, woman vocals. Add this song to your mp3 if you want to listen music just before you are going to sleep.

And then comes the albums masterpiece, the Crestfallen. Intro is very depressive and emotional, which is made with Dannys leads and Whites suffering vocals, and I personally think that this is one of the best intros that I've ever heard. After the intro the song starts rolling with similar doomy feeling as in Sweet suffering just having more emotion, harshness and dedication which is making this song a masterpiece of doom metal genre. Crestfallens lyrics have also connection to Anathemas newer production such Inner Silence and falling deeper. Last but not least comes the They Die which continues with similar musical appearance as heard previously in the album. The lead is very epic, shame that the song didn't end with it did like in the album Serenades.

The album has minor drawbacks and I warmly recommend it to anybody who is interested in doom metal, or generally in metal. This is the album which set Anathemas course to the top of doom metal genre, and eventually made same the same success in alternative/atmospheric rock genre.

The hits keeping the misses on target - 84%

Gutterscream, March 10th, 2006
Written based on this version: 1992, CD, Peaceville Records

“…by the haunting shadows of trees and graves, mesmerized am I…”

With a series of power strokes and some grisly monotone narration “…And I Lust” would become the public’s true entrance to the Liverpool band’s volume warping death/doom euphony. By now, Paradise Lost’s Gothic, The Gathering’s Always, and My Dying Bride’s As the Flower Withers (and some will argue to include Cathedral’s debut Forest of Equilibrium, not that it’s entirely off the mark, but tends more toward a nephew-of-Sabbath retro vibe than anything else) were brusquely serenading many to mournful pastures, but one really couldn’t leave out Anathema without some sort of crime being committed.

While adding three more minutes to the already interminable staple “They Die”, the rhythmic charge of the remaining four tracks is more determinable than on their previous 7”. Less evasive and tangled are the melodies and drumwork, marching along with a more exacting structural stamp that comes off kinda inflexible, noticeable mostly during “Crestfallen” in less-than-spectacular fashion, but also within the roar-infested sections of “The Sweet Suffering”.

Darren White often interrupts his mammoth death growl ideology with woundedly spun, gothic interludes that are easily perceptible when thrown against the barbaric (and likely purposeful) ultra-growl of “The Sweet Suffering” and twined with the same during the stringently paced title cut, a song where the start strays toward an unassuming mid-90’s Savatage-ish veil in its spurt of piano-driven elegance, like something off Handful of Rain, but is quickly squashed by not only the aforementioned recurring hip-wader gait, but by a heavy blanket of slowly wrought, near symphonic drear that doesn’t stay hidden here, during the anti-pounding parts of “The Sweet Suffering”, or in opener “…And I Lust”.

Then there’s the ever-alluring “Everwake”, the classy, acoustically aired magical rift in the brutish death/doom hemisphere where the Ruth (last nameless) fills a light, keyboard-entranced void with a promise of something beyond the burning cliffs of despair and sledgehammer motif. With next year’s lovely “J’ai Fait Une Promesse” and In Flames’s “Everlost (Part II)” (‘ever’ wonder about coincidences?) two years after that, it appears the promise hadn’t been broken, let alone forgotten.

Instead of a step forward, Anathema’s Crestfallen seems to shuffle parallel to itself with a damage report that details a simultaneous regression and progression in accomplishment. While the overall riffage endures in a more prosaic strafing motion, the atmospheric vernacular has a target somewhere nearer to being locked. White’s eroded warble and Ruth’s serenade keep this from slipping down the percentage ladder from the They Die 7". Still the beginning stages of a promising band.