Resonance 2

This album is the second installment of Anathema’s retrospective Resonance collection that Peaceville released between 2001 and 2002. Halfway between “best of” and “b-sides/outtakes/live tracks” compilation, the leitmotif tying together the two releases was the idea of using songs recorded while the band was still signed to Peaceville to provide an overview of the band’s diverse aesthetics, ranging from mellow and experimental (Resonance Part 1) to heavier and more aggressive (this album).

If Resonance Part 1 was mildly entertaining – mostly thanks to the inclusion of several b-sides which gave Anathema fans a great treasure-trove of rare tracks all in one place -, Resonance Part 2 is much less satisfying. Like its predecessor, the album does not work well as a “best of “ compilation, simply because it misses out on too many Anathema’s classic songs – by virtue of these being too “mellow” to be included here. In addition, nearly all songs here can also be found (in nearly identical versions) on the band’s four “Peaceville LPs”: Serenades, The Silent Enigma, Eternity and Alternative 4. The exceptions are “Sleepless ‘96”, “Eternal Rise of the Sun” and “Nailed to the Cross / 666” – all bonus tracks that were originally included in the band’s first three LPs. I am not quite sure this is enough to entice fans of the band who already own those albums to also invest in this release. Moreover, the tracklist does not quite match up the idea of consistently exploring the “heavier side” of the band, as the songs taken from Eternity and Alternative 4 are sonically miles away from those taken from the earlier albums (a Roy Harper’s cover is unlikely to start a moshpit any time soon).

All in all, I am not sure who may find this album interesting or useful. It does not work well as a “best of”, unless one also gets Resonance Part 1 (and even then I am not quite sure the two albums together truly cover the best of those four Peaceville LPs). Moreover, for someone like me who loves the band and especially their mid-period material and owns all their LPs, this compilation (and especially its second installment) feels more like a money-grabbing exercise than a genuine attempt at presenting a valuable, complementary album for fans and collectors.

Anathema’s Resonance 2 is a nostalgic record for me to review and here’s why: when I was young, there were only three record stores in my city that had any metal albums at all that could be called “underground,” (that is, anything that is not Metallica, Iron Maiden or nu metal) and their selection was anything but stellar, so I often had to go back and forth between them to see if there was anything good I could scavenge. I also had shitty internet, so, for a while, this was the only Anathema I owned.

Released one year before A Natural Disaster, this is something like a “best of” album: four tracks originally appeared on Serenades (including one from the reissue), other four on The Silent Enigma, two on Eternity, and two on Alternative 4. Well, I mean, that’s one way to put it. Both “Lovelorn Rhapsody” and “Sleepless” sound here very different from their Serenades version, with a bit more speed and better production, because these versions were actually taken from the Peaceville Vol. 4 compilation and the Japanese edition of Eternity, respectively. There are no songs from Judgement or A Fine Day to Exit.

Considering this is a compilation, I’m not going to describe or judge the compositions themselves, since they’re already well known and you can check their own albums for reviews that talk about them in a more in-depth manner. Rather, I’ll comment on the choice of songs and how it all comes together in the album. “Lovelorn Rhapsody” and “Sleepless”, with their catchy doom meets post-punk vibe, are Anathema classics, so their presence is practically mandatory, and I like these versions better than the original, as that muddy raw production of Serenades was never adequate for Anathema’s relatively soft sound—plus it helps them fit better with the rest of the songs. Doom epic “A Dying Wish,” the longest song here, is a good pick too, while atmospheric rockers “Fragile Dreams” and “Empty” are among those “new Anathema” songs that sound melodic and emotional while still retaining a bit of an edge.

I don’t care much for “Sweet Tears,” “Cries in the Wind” and “Hope,” especially “Hope,” as it seems a bit out of place here, especially considering it's a prog rock cover, though I don’t really object to their inclusion. Now “Eternal Rise of the Sun,” “Sunset of Age” and “Nocturnal Emission” are questionable additions because they’re so damn boring, a good riff here and there, some atmosphere but so bad to listen paying attention, since they never go anywhere. Also I can’t listen to “Nocturnal Emission” without laughing, it’s literally a very serious doom song about having wet dreams. Album closer “Nailed to the Cross / 666” has just got to be a joke—not that it’s particularly bad, but after everything, hearing them pretend to be tough and evil with an aggressive, shouty track is funny as hell and completely shatters the introspective mood they have worked so hard to create. I’d gladly exchange it for, I don’t know, at least one song from A Fine Day to Exit, like “Underworld,” at least for the sake of completion and because it would feel like a good closer.

With exception of that slip, however, Resonance 2 sounds strangely cohesive. It shows some thought was put into the choice of songs (especially since many of them don’t come straight from the regular full-lengths but rather from more obscure releases and editions) and their order in the album. It flows nicely and you don’t feel like you’re listening to a patchwork cobbled from different albums. Even the more boring songs aren’t that bad since they give some padding between classics and help solidify the thoughtful, melancholy, though not quite cut-your-wrists depressive, airy feel Anathema has been mastering throughout most of their career. That makes this album quite representative of their sound, I believe.

There’s however one more sense in which Resonance 2 is nostalgic, unrelated to my personal story of metal scarcity. In the age of streaming, this kind of release is now a relic of the past. Plus, considering the kind of music Anathema made after A Natural Disaster (for me, their last listenable output) this feels very much like an in memoriam album, showcasing their best efforts that they will never be able to replicate again. Sad, indeed.