{"id":1909,"date":"2017-06-22T14:50:40","date_gmt":"2017-06-22T14:50:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-anathema-the-optimist\/"},"modified":"2017-06-22T14:50:40","modified_gmt":"2017-06-22T14:50:40","slug":"review-anathema-the-optimist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-anathema-the-optimist\/","title":{"rendered":"Review:\u00a0Anathema –\u00a0The Optimist"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Liverpool’s Anathema<\/b> have undertaken one of the more striking transformations in modern rock music. Originally a death\/doom band in the ‘90s, they have slowly moved away from their initial gloomy sound in the early 2000s, and re-emerged with a fully-fledged soft-prog sound on 2010’s ‘We’re Here Because We’re Here’<\/i>. Anathema<\/b>’s fourth album in this vein (eleventh overall), ‘The Optimist’<\/i> offers more of the same, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.<\/p>\n

‘The Optimist’<\/i> most closely resembles the band’s most recent opus, 2014’s ‘Distant Satellites’<\/i>, as the electronic tinges from that album are carried over on songs like ‘Leaving It Behind’<\/i> and ‘Springfield’<\/i>. These electronics are incorporated better here than the previous album though, as ‘Springfield’<\/i> combines this influence with understated, minimalist piano beautifully. It’s a stand-out track that later erupts in a hail of post-rock guitars, a testament to Anathema<\/b>’s continued incorporation of different influences.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Vocalist Lee Douglas is once again given a chance to shine on ‘The Optimist’<\/i>, with her lovely voice lighting up songs like ‘Endless Ways’<\/i> and complimenting some stripped back piano, and later a brass section, on ‘Close Your Eyes’<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Much of ‘The Optimist’<\/i> contents itself with general floaty niceness, which leads to it drifting into tedium at times, with songs like the title track and ‘Ghosts’<\/i> being largely forgettable. It’s a welcome change, then, when songs like the creepy, atmospheric ‘Wildfires’<\/i> change the tone slightly. Closer ‘Back to the Start’<\/i> is focused and upbeat too, with a well-defined, catchy riff. Its exploding strings end the album on a warm note, exemplifying how far the band have come since their gloomy early days.<\/p>\n

‘The Optimist’<\/i> isn’t a perfect album, and doesn’t come close to the transcendental intensity of ‘We’re Here\u2026’<\/i> or the follow-up ‘Weather Systems’<\/i>. However, it’s still a beautiful piece of work despite its flaws; an improvement over ‘Distant Satellites’<\/i> and a welcome addition to Anathema<\/b>’s back-catalogue that will doubtless please fans of their other 2010s work.<\/p>\n

3\/5<\/p>\n

‘The Optimist’<\/i> by Anathema<\/b> is out now on Kscope<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Anathema<\/b> links: Website<\/a>|Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a>|Soundcloud<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Alan Cunningham (@funeral_polis<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Liverpool’s Anathema have undertaken one of the more striking transformations in modern rock music. Originally a death\/doom band in the ‘90s, they have slowly moved away from their initial gloomy sound in the early 2000s, and re-emerged with a fully-fledged soft-prog sound on 2010’s ‘We’re Here Because We’re Here’. Anathema’s fourth album in this vein […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1508,1510,1509],"class_list":["post-1909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-anathema","tag-kscope","tag-the-optimist"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReview:\u00a0Anathema -\u00a0The Optimist - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Liverpool’s Anathema have undertaken one of the more striking transformations in modern rock music. Originally a death\/doom band in the ‘90s,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review:\u00a0Anathema -\u00a0The Optimist - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Liverpool’s Anathema have undertaken one of the more striking transformations in modern rock music. Originally a death\/doom band in the ‘90s,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-anathema-the-optimist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-06-22T14:50:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_orrffuubTP1r8no6so3_r1_1280.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review:\u00a0Anathema -\u00a0The Optimist - Already Heard Staging","description":"Liverpool’s Anathema have undertaken one of the more striking transformations in modern rock music. Originally a death\/doom band in the ‘90s,","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Review:\u00a0Anathema -\u00a0The Optimist - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"Liverpool’s Anathema have undertaken one of the more striking transformations in modern rock music. Originally a death\/doom band in the ‘90s,","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-anathema-the-optimist\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_published_time":"2017-06-22T14:50:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_orrffuubTP1r8no6so3_r1_1280.jpg","width":1,"height":1,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-anathema-the-optimist\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-anathema-the-optimist\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/508ed29771f8c5b56fdcf4695f22a2a3"},"headline":"Review:\u00a0Anathema –\u00a0The Optimist","datePublished":"2017-06-22T14:50:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-anathema-the-optimist\/"},"wordCount":398,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-anathema-the-optimist\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_orrffuubTP1r8no6so3_r1_1280.jpg","keywords":["Anathema","Kscope","The Optimist"],"articleSection":["Album Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-anathema-the-optimist\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-anathema-the-optimist\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-anathema-the-optimist\/","name":"Review:\u00a0Anathema -\u00a0The Optimist - Already Heard Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-anathema-the-optimist\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-anathema-the-optimist\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_orrffuubTP1r8no6so3_r1_1280.jpg","datePublished":"2017-06-22T14:50:40+00:00","description":"Liverpool’s Anathema have undertaken one of the more striking transformations in modern rock music. Originally a death\/doom band in the ‘90s,","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-anathema-the-optimist\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-anathema-the-optimist\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_orrffuubTP1r8no6so3_r1_1280.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_orrffuubTP1r8no6so3_r1_1280.jpg"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","name":"Already Heard Staging","description":"Covering the best in alternative music as best as we can","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization","name":"Already Heard","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Already Heard"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","https:\/\/x.com\/alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alreadyheard\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/already-heard\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/AlreadyHeardMusic","https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@alreadyheard"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/508ed29771f8c5b56fdcf4695f22a2a3","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}