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Liverpool based rock band Anathema started life as Pagan Angel in 1990 with the three Cavanagh brothers - Vincent, Daniel and Jamie - grouping together with singer Darren White as a death/gothic metal group. Jamie Cavanagh left and was replaced by bassist Duncan Patterson and the band, now renamed Anathema, released their debut EP 'The Crestfallen'. Their first album, 'Serenades', propelled them into the mainstream and they set out on the road in 1994.
White left and Vincent Cavanagh took to the helm as lead vocalist, and with the new line-up they put out their second album 'The Silent Enigma'. 'Eternity' came shortly after, followed by 'Alternative 4' and 'Judgement' which cemented their previously ambiguous genre as doom metal. Throughout the '90s and '00s Anathema went through several line-up changes but they always retained the sound that their fans loved.
'A Fine Day to Exit' was released in 2001, but a few years later their record label, Music for Nations was dissolved leaving Anathema without a label. They released songs on their own through their website and simply asked fans to donate an amount of their choosing. 'Hindsight' and 'Falling Deeper' came out in 2008 and 2011 respectively, as albums of re-imagined orchestral arrangements of Anathema songs. They signed to Kscope and released their ninth album 'Weather Systems' and keyboardist Daniel Cardoso joined the band permanently. They played a one-off show at the Roman theatre in Philippopolis, Bulgaria in 2012 and released it as live album 'Universal' with the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra.
After performing live with Professor Stephen Hawking at the 2016 Starmus International Festival in the Canary Islands, Anathema returned to the studio to record their eleventh album 'The Optimist' which was released in 2017.
Artist biography compiled by BDS/West 10. All rights reserved
