Band:	Anathema
Album:	Eternity
Style:	Doom metal
Release date:	November 1996

01. Sentient
02. Angelica
03. The Beloved
04. Eternity Part I
05. Eternity Part II
06. Hope [Roy Harper cover]
07. Suicide Veil
08. Radiance
09. Far Away
10. Eternity Part III
11. Cries On The Wind
12. Ascension

Digipack bonus tracks:
13. Far Away [acoustic version]
14. Eternity Part III [acoustic version]
15. Angelica [live]

Re-release bonus tracks:
16. Intro [live]
17. Restless Oblivion [live]
18. Shroud Of Frost [live]
19. We, The Gods [live]

After the wonderful doom/death releases of "Serenades" and "The Silent Enigma" Anathema reach 1996 with their third full-length release, "Eternity", with Vincent remaining in the position of the singer offering to the band various ways of expression. With this release this unique UK band evokes a bitter taste of "eternity", the beauty of forever yet the bitterness of reality and simple questions/thoughts like "do you think we are forever?" reminding of how limited is our time on earth. Anathema drink from the wine of despair, sorrow, painful beauty, bitterness and cherish with us deep emotions through poetic and utterly esoteric lyrics, through melodies of their souls cutting deep in your heart with rose-leafs leaving behind bleeding wounds and aching scars.

The doom/death luxury of the past is gone (only a few memories of those days have remained) and Pink Floydish influences are taking control, yet always seen through an Anathema prism. The emotions that Anathema's music evokes remain fragile, inner, strong, pure. Vincent's utterly expressive voice, trembling at times, almost crying at others, gives meaning to every single word, to every single sigh, to every single cry? Anathema pour their souls into "eternity" leaving their inner world overrun their compositions.

The emotional "Sentient" opens the gates of "Eternity" with a beautiful-sounding piano piece and a melancholic guitar solo to reach a hymn to pure love and melancholy, a composition that has scarred me deep inside, "Angelica". The whole guitar work on this composition is deeply inspired; every sound a tear, every tear a memory? Vincent's vocals are utterly emotional, interpreting in a descriptive way the esoteric lyrics caressing the listener's heart with velvet rose-leafs as tears make their shy appearance. "The Beloved" follows, another emotionally charged composition, opening in a heavier way and turning as the song goes on to softer melancholic soundscapes with Vincent singing in a heart-rending way evoking despair.

"Eternity Part I" continues the album, a thoughtful composition based on soft guitar chords, psychedelic rock influenced keyboard melodies and Patterson's imposing bass lines as Vincent interprets wonderfully the poetic, filled with a sweet melancholy, lyrics. "Eternity Part II" follows, a serene instrumental song that slowly leads to a wonderful cover on Harper/Gilmour's "Hope", keeping the original feeling of the song but making it sound heavier and absolutely Anathema, pacing with the whole atmosphere of the album. "Suicide Veil" follows and a tranquil atmosphere surrounds the room with Vincent almost reciting the desperate poetic lyrics, a serene atmosphere that shatters by an emotional outburst with Vincent's intense interpretation ending the song.

The album flows peacefully with "Radiance" with intense keyboard melodies escalating the emotional charge of the song leading to an ecstatic guitar solo accompanying Vincent's trembling voice. The devout keyboard melodies along with the beautiful-sounding guitar chords and bass lines open the following "Far Away", a dreamy song with the guitars being an extension of Vincent's voice as he sings "far away" in a heart-rending way. "Eternity Part III", the third and last part of the "Eternity" trilogy, follows, opening in a tranquil way and turning into an emotional outburst expressing the limited "eternity" of everyone but always keeping inside an "undying affection for life". The album continues with the experimental sound of "Cries On the Wind", filled with psychedelic rock influences expressed in a heavier way, to reach the end with "Ascension", an instrumental composition filled with a hopeful feeling after having experienced a bitter taste of "eternity", something that cannot be achieved in real life, but in a world where only emotions have power?

Let Anathema take you "far away", into "eternity"? "If the truth hurts prepare for pain, do you think we are for ever?"