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Anathema - Reveal Details & Cover Art For New Studio Album


Anathema's new album is almost here! While you still have to wait until June to get it, today you can find out the details about it and begin anticipating it. After 2014's album Distant Satellites, the atmospheric rockers are back with their eleventh full-length, The Optimist. Due for release on 9th June through Kscope, The Optimist will soon reveal "some of the darkest, most challenging and unexpected music the sextet have put their name to." Find out the concept and cover below.

Anathema, led by brothers Daniel and Vincent Cavanagh, along with drummer John Douglas, singer Lee Douglas, bassist Jamie Cavanagh and drummer/keyboardist Daniel Cardoso began recording The Optimist in the winter of 2016 at Attica Audio in Donegal, Ireland and then finished at Castle Of Doom studios in Glasgow with producer Tony Doogan [Mogwai, Belle & Sebastian, Super Furry Animals] at the helm. Vincent elaborates on Doogan's influence on the recording process: "He suggested that we record as a live band, which we hadn't done for years. Having played a few tunes on the last tour, we were ready for that. Tony wanted to capture that energy you can only get with everyone facing each other? it makes a big difference. He was a superb guy to work with and I learned a lot making this record."




The idea for the album was born from the front cover artwork of the band's 2001 album A Fine Day To Exit as Daniel Cavanagh explains: "I suppose you might say the album is semi-autobiographical because this time we used a surrogate," he says, of the character that is The Optimist. "We put sound, feelings and crucially, our own hopes and fears into another person and made him the subject of the songs then weaving my own internal monologue into the narrative of The Optimist. It was John's idea to write a narrative, so I took A Fine Day To Exit as the starting point." Vincent elaborates further on the earlier album's artwork influence: "The guy who disappeared - you never knew what happened to him, did he start a new life? Did he succumb to his fate? It was never explained. The opening track title is the exact coordinates for Silver Strand beach in San Diego - the last known location of The Optimist - shown on the cover of A Fine Day To Exit."

To continue the theme further, the band brought back designer and illustrator Travis Smith to create the artwork for The Optimist. The artwork was created from a series of photographs Smith took on a West Coast road trip.




Source: kscopemusic.com
Band profile: Anathema
Posted: 24.03.2017 by BloodTears


Comments

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Comments: 14   Visited by: 195 users
24.03.2017 - 20:57
InnerSelf
proofread free
I thought they'd go more Electronic, it seems I was mistaken.
Pretty hyped for this.
----
He who is not bold enough
to be stared at from across the abyss
is not bold enough
to stare into it himself.
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24.03.2017 - 20:57
BloodTears
ANA-thema
They changed their logo to match my MS title: ANA-thema. I can't!

Seriously though, I'm optimistic for this and it seems to be linked to the excellent A Fine Day To Exit.
----
Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29

Like you could kiss my ass.


My Instagram
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24.03.2017 - 21:09
Paz
Nuclear Cowboy
Written by BloodTears on 24.03.2017 at 20:57

They changed their logo to match my MS title: ANA-thema. I can't!

Plagiarism! You should sue them
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25.03.2017 - 00:41
MetalManic

Awesome album cover. Good to see Smith is at it again. This will be a dandy.
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25.03.2017 - 00:41
MetalManic

Written by InnerSelf on 24.03.2017 at 20:57

I thought they'd go more Electronic, it seems I was mistaken.
Pretty hyped for this.
You and I both.
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25.03.2017 - 03:53
3rdWorld
China was a neat
Mindblowing creativity in that artwork.
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25.03.2017 - 13:37
BloodTears
ANA-thema
Written by Paz on 24.03.2017 at 21:09

Written by BloodTears on 24.03.2017 at 20:57

They changed their logo to match my MS title: ANA-thema. I can't!

Plagiarism! You should sue them


I could never sue my favourite band though. But it's funny that it has my name on it now
----
Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29

Like you could kiss my ass.


My Instagram
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26.03.2017 - 17:13
Paradoxical

I for one think the cover is a 10 minutes job with photoshop and applying the lens flare filter. This one doesn't seem creative to me. 90's Anathema changed my life in my teenage years but now I think they are simply too sweet for my taste with more and more optimism.
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26.03.2017 - 20:36
bblitz

Together with Marillion one of the best prog bands nowadays....
Can't wait for this.
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27.03.2017 - 02:31
Jason W.
Razorbliss
I'm always up for some optimism, and their prism still has a tone of ominous emotion, even if the music isn't necessarily dark anymore. Easy purchase. Hope they tour the US in the next year again!
----
"After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." - Aldous Huxley
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27.03.2017 - 03:28
MetalManic

Written by BloodTears on 25.03.2017 at 13:37

Written by Paz on 24.03.2017 at 21:09

Written by BloodTears on 24.03.2017 at 20:57

They changed their logo to match my MS title: ANA-thema. I can't!

Plagiarism! You should sue them


I could never sue my favourite band though. But it's funny that it has my name on it now

Your name is The Optimist?
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27.03.2017 - 12:33
BloodTears
ANA-thema
Written by MetalManic on 27.03.2017 at 03:28

Written by BloodTears on 25.03.2017 at 13:37

Written by Paz on 24.03.2017 at 21:09

Written by BloodTears on 24.03.2017 at 20:57

They changed their logo to match my MS title: ANA-thema. I can't!

Plagiarism! You should sue them


I could never sue my favourite band though. But it's funny that it has my name on it now

Your name is The Optimist?


Of course not lol Their logo is different, you see? ANA-thema, like my MS title.
----
Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29

Like you could kiss my ass.


My Instagram
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30.03.2017 - 08:46
RazMan

This sounds really promising! Can't wait to get to hear this! Seems like they've dumped that bag of shit they dragged around on Distant Satellites. Hyped!
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30.03.2017 - 10:25
RazMan

Why haven't anyone mention they have a new single on spotify? Springfield, from the Optimist.
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