Anathema

There comes a time in certain bands' careers where they have inarguably peaked, and a brief summary of their musical trajectory isn't sufficient to do the artist's accomplishment justice. Seven years in the making, We're Here Because We're Here is a magnificent example of what happens when a group of artists coalesce and produce something both tangibly affecting and utterly organic. The rampant melancholy of previous releases has been transmuted, still making occasional appearances, but by and large, giving way to a newfound positivity at the core of the band's approach. In the hands of lesser songwriters, this could prove syrupy and disastrous, but Anathema deftly arrange ten Floyd-ian, sprawling odes to the nature of truth and existence so innocuously that one might think they'd settled on this style ages ago. Truth is, Anathema were once a pioneering UK doom metal band, but listening to this monolith of emotive progressive rock, many would be hard-pressed to see how much they've drawn from that genre's all-encompassing sense of impending cataclysm. Anathema exist inside the eye of the storm now, free from the limitations of genres in a state of harmony with their muse. Although success on this side of the pond has always eluded them, in 2010, their palette has broadened and the possibilities from here are endless.