Gig review: Anathema

What a band Anathema is. They’ve undergone an amazing transformation from doom metallers to producers of some of the most hauntingly emotive songs that I’ve ever heard. My worry was that I would go to the concert and they would fail to reproduce the quality of the material on their albums. They failed to disappoint. Despite some technical issues, each song was wonderful. Highlight of the night for me was “A Natural Disaster” which performed live surpasses the beauty of the CD version. I have to admit that a tear was shed. It really annoys me that such a talented group are unsigned by a record label, when there is so much rubbish out there that is.

The only downpoint to the whole evening was the venue. I found the Scala incredibly small and terribly smoky. I just don’t understand why venues allow smoking in the concert hall. I lost count of the number of times that some idiot nearly burned someone with a cigarette! One thing I really miss about Scotland is the smoking ban.