Anathema
A Fine Day To Exit

December 2001
Released: 2001, Music For Nations/Koch Records
Rating: 2.5/5
Reviewer: Waspman

“Hello?”

“Hi, who is this?”

“Is this Thom Yorke”?

“Yeah, who’s this?”

“This is your copyright rep at the Music Protection Agency. We think we might have a case for you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. There’s this ex-metal band called Anathema, and it sounds like they ripped off OK COMPUTER.”

“Sue ‘em for millions!”



OK, so maybe that conversation never took place, but you get the idea. The great doom band we once knew is no longer with us. AFDtE is far, far away from Anathema’s roots, and far away from metal. I’ll even go so far as to say that unless their next album steps up the heaviness factor, they won’t be in Metal-Rules! or any other metal ‘zine again. They now exist in a land inhabited by the likes of Paradise Lost.



That being said, how is the actual music on this disc? Well, it’s pretty average. Ranging from vaguely catchy (“Release”) to annoying (“Looking Outside Inside”) to pretty great (the title track), AFDtE never really seems to hit its stride. Only “Panic” has any oomph to it at all, and no one could argue that it’s a brilliant song. The sad thing is, it’s obvious that the band are reaching for a new, more electronic based vibe while still carrying their trademark feelings of desolation and depression and they don’t even come close to reaching the mark. Sorry guys, but this is a sub-standard album, regardless of musical genre.