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Anata: Under a stone with no inscription
02/05/11 || Daemonomania
I’m sure this album has been reviewed before here at GD, hasn’t it? Most likely someone took a forklift to it circa the year MCMXCIXIVJRTMJQ. So here I am to make sure this impressive piece of melotech remains ever represented here at the only website that puts hair on yer penis. Anata deliver the goods – incredible musicianship, mindbending twisting dual anti-harmonies, drumwork to beat all drumwork…
Unfortunately, despite all that, I’m not amongst those who find “Under a stone” to be a masterpiece. Sorry. I know a few folks here at this very site who think Anata are the second coming of Chuck et. al. And you may be right – these hardworking, recently unsigned (props to Earache) Swedes might have a “Symbolic” up their accomplished sleeves somewhere. I ain’t heard it yet.
My problem with the band is that while they’re clearly absolute fucken gods on their respective instruments, the songwriting is always hit or miss. Want some hits? The flowing pummel-a-thon of “Entropy within” and “Dance to the song of apathy”. The progressive, majestic power of “Any kind of magic…”. That part in “The drowning” with the gong – fuck me. But even if six of the ten songs are unique pieces of a technical death metal championship belt, the remaining four (misses, missus) are far too dense and lack anything that anyone but a music major could find memorable. It kind of drags the overall album down when you have to skip around to hear the quality. A better vocalist could only have helped matters.
Still, like I said in that “Celebration of guilt” review you can count the number of perfect melo/tech deff albums ever released on one severely mutilated hand. “Under a stone…” falls just short of this list. If you’re looking for the child of Gorod and Spawn of Possession, you’ve found ‘im. If you’ve got wood for thrashing, bouncy riffwork (thanks Trauma) mixed with precision percussion, your pants may split open. If you’ve got no cure for your need to hear unsettling battles between two melodies working to undo one another, this shit will be your elixir. Pick it up, just be prepared to occasionally get tekked right under a rock.
- Information
- Released: 2004
- Label: Wicked World
- Website: www.anata.se
- Band
- Fredrik Schälin: vocals, guitars
- Andreas Allenmark: guitars
- Henrik Drake: bass
- Conny Pettersson: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Shackled to Guilt
- 02. A Problem Yet to Be Solved
- 03. Entropy Within
- 04. Dance to the Song of Apathy
- 05. Sewerages of the Mind
- 06. Built on Sand
- 07. Under the Debris
- 08. The Drowning
- 09. Leaving the Spirit Behind
- 10. Any Kind of Magic or Miracle
