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Anata: Dreams of death and dismay
05/06/08 || The Duff
It’s rare for a band to be around at the turn of the millennium and be acknowledged as not only a unique band, but an influential one as well. I would put bands such as Decapitated, Spawn of Possession, Necrophagist, and now Anata in such a list – often mistakenly thought of as a Polish death metal band (there are some really difficult to ignore similarities), Anata hail from Sweden and revel in a combination of catchy riffing, melodic passages in the Death (as in Chuck’s band)/Swedish melodeath vein, heavy death metal attacks and odd time signatures.
Their latest two efforts, to me, are untouchable – with them, the band has become an entity that stands out from a sub-genre filled to the brim with bands overly competitive in the quest for outdoing each other on a technical front, largely in part to the fact that Anata are much more song-centered than most tech death bands; nothing they do is overdone in a crazy, masturbatory manner, and the song structure/hooky riffing is always key when tackling complex musical compositions, which can often be marred by an over-abundance of technical displays with no soul or understanding of what makes a track, or music for that matter, flow well.
Something this band seems very adept at doing is using the dual guitar attack most efficiently, much like the legendary outfit led by the late Chuck Schuldiner. The one drawback to this album over later Anata efforts however is that the band has not fully hit its stride on “Dreams of Death and Dismay”, with a couple of moments that appear out of place and would only be perfected two years on down the line with this album’s follow-up. Also, Robert is not as proficient as Connie, who would grace later outputs, but then the latter is one of my very favourite drummers at the moment, so my opinion may be jaundiced as a result. All the tricks of the trade are present, he just fails to push himself into spectacular realms, competent though he is, his lack of creativity being his most apparent weakness.
Possibly one of the most promising death metal bands out there, I know that Anata’s new effort (for which all the music has been written) is just waiting for the studio time to be booked. In anticipation, I decided to check this one out, and I can’t say I’m so keen overall. The riffs are definitely there, and the music is great, but the later releases by this band make “Dreams of Death and Dismay” too irrelevant to my ears – I’m entirely unsure of how often I’ll get back to this when wanting an Anata fix, especially considering the soon to be released album is said to be the band’s best yet (quoting current bandmember Connie). Maybe in time this album will grow on me, because it has a lot going for it, but I would recommend later efforts if time isn’t what you have in checking out new music.
7 Swedopolska death metal bands out of 10.
- Information
- Released: 2001
- Label: Season Of Mist
- Website: www.anata.se
- Band
- Fredrik Schalin: vocals, guitars
- Andreas Allenmark: guitars
- Henrik Drake: bass
- Robert Petersson: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Die Laughing
- 02. Faith Hope Self Deception
- 03. God of Death
- 04. Metamorphosis By the Well of Truth
- 05. Dreamon
- 06. Can’t Kill What’s Already Dead
- 07. Insurrection
- 08. Enigma of Number Three
- 09. Drain of Blood
- 10. Temple Erratic
