Anathema at Studio

21 April 2012, 8pm

Anathema
Anathema is a band from Liverpool, England primarily known as one of the pioneering and leading death doom metal acts, incorporating growling, poetic lyrics and complex arrangements into the traditional doom riffage. Later in their career, beginning with “Eternity”, they moved away from this sound into more melodic, atmospheric rock.

Anathema formed in 1990 as a doom metal band, initially under the name ‘Pagan Angel’. In November of that year, the band recorded their first demo, entitled “An Iliad of Woes”. This demo caught the attention of several bands from the English metal scene, allowing Anathema to play gigs with bands like Bolt Thrower and Paradise Lost.

At the beginning of 1991, the band adopted its current name, and gained a lot of attention with the release of their second demo entitled “All Faith Is Lost”, resulting in a four-album deal with Peaceville Records. Their first release under the label was “The Crestfallen EP” in November 1992. They took the material from that album on the road, touring with Cannibal Corpse.

Serenades, Anathema’s debut LP, attracted a lot of mainstream attention, propelling their “Sweet Tears” music video onto the MTV playlist.

Anathema’s first European tour was in 1994, and was closely followed by gigs at the Independent Rock Festival in Brazil.

Amplifier
With a sound that draws as much from post-rock’s modernity as it does from the classic space rock grooves of the past, Amplifier’s resurgence into the music scene with 2011’s ‘The Octopus’ was not just a celebratory success story of sticking it to ‘the man’, but testament to the dogged determination that drives this unique Mancunian trio ever onwards. In the near 14 years of their existence, Amplifier have suffered from more than their fair share of the kind of pitfalls that the music industry can throw at a band, defiantly stuck two fingers up to the perceived manner of doing business and set about creating their own music for themselves and their fans. For an alternative band unafraid to toy with rock conventions, it was a steadfastly punk rock way of doing their own business.

Then again, there has always been something special that sets Amplifier apart. I first crossed paths with the band within months of them forming in 1998, and even then the stand-out song of their early sets was a song called Motorhead. Not the Lemmy-penned song of the same name, but their own dizzying space/prog/metal/alternative anthem that still crops up in their live set today. A youthful display of the unyielding belief that has fired Sel Balamir, Neil Mahony and Matt Brobin (the same trio who make up Amplifier today) to the point where they can dictate their career on their own terms.

tickets:
PLN 99 - to 31.03.2012
PLN 110 - from 01.04.2012