Live Review: Anathema, Manchester Academy 3, 13-Sep-06

Anathema are a difficult band to pidgeonhole. They're often classified as "doom metal", although that label only really applies to their very early albums. Later on they moved towards the mix of goth rock and Floydian atmospherics on albums like "Alternative 4" and "Judgement", or the Radiohead-lite of "A Fine Day to Exit". Their zigzagging musical trajectory might account for their failure to really break through into the big time; after eight varied albums they now find themselves without a record deal. Record deal or not, they still managed to draw a healthy crowd for a midweek gig.

First support was a short set from Danny Cavanagh's new acoustic project "Leafblade", just three guys on acoustic guitars, no bass or drums. Danny's acoustic playing was quite impressive; I've always thought the mark of a good guitarist is the ability to play a decent solo shorn of effects or distortion.

Second support was Sweden's prog-metallers Wolverine. They opened with the one song of theirs I recognised, "House of Plague", which appeared on the cover disk of this month's "Classic Rock" magazine. While musically competant, their set suffered from a muddy sound mix, and came over as a bit of a poor man's Dream Theater; it's possible that their music improves on repeated listenings, but with mostly unfamiliar material they seemed to lack strong hooks or riffs.

I wasn't sure quite what to expect from Anathema's headline set. Four years ago I saw them perform a superb show in the same venue. But last year's support set for Porcupine Tree in the larger Academy 2 was a bit of a disappointment, in which they didn't play nearly enough of what I considered to be their strongest material.

This time Anathema soon dispelled any lingering doubts I had as they launched into a powerful and enthusiastic set, buoyed up by an an appreciative crowd. They still played a lot from their most recent release, 2003's A Natural Disaster, including a very impressive rendition of the title track, with Lee Douglas' vocals far more impassioned than the studio version. This time the setlist also drew heavily from one of my favourite albums, 1998's Alternative 4, with strong versions of 'Empty' (introduced as 'a drinking song') and 'Lost Control'. The main set ended with Danny's beautiful cascading solo at the end of 'Flying', merging seamlessly into a tape loop as he walked off stage with the guitar seemingly still playing.

They came back for no fewer than four encores including an excellent 'Shroud of False/Fragile Dreams' also from "Alternative 4", 'Sleepless' right back from their 1993 debut, and finally a cover of Nine Inch Nails 'Hurt'.

Good show, even though they overran the curfew which meant I had to get a taxi home. A band this good don't deserve to languish without a record deal.