Venue: Mean Fiddler, London            Date: 12/12/01

December's shaping up as a pretty good month for quality rock gigs in the capital and with an excellent new album to promote, Anathema were unlikely to disappoint at this show - especially as it comes towards the end of a European tour, so they've had plenty of time to bed the new material in.

The Mean Fiddler was satisfyingly full tonight with an impressively diverse range of fans; from those who have obviously followed the band since their early gothic metal days to more recent converts. The range of T-shirts on display runs the whole gamut of the rock spectrum, which will have pleased the band who appear keen to avoid being stereotyped as playing music of a particular style.

After a lengthy wait following a quality set from supporting band Aerogramme, Anathema finally appear shrouded in red and blue lights and dry ice. Wasting little time with preliminaries, Vincent Cavanagh and the band race into opener 'Empty' before the excellent 'Deep' from 99's 'Judgement' CD heralds a string of tracks from that album, all warmly received by the audience.  Vincent apologised for the bass sound, but to be honest I didn't notice a problem except for the fact that it wasn't as predominant as at some gigs I've been to - generally a good thing in this case, as Anathema's music is far more about the interaction between the two guitars and keyboards than it is about a powerful and dynamic rhythm section.

The band then introduce material from the new 'A Fine Day To Exit' album, starting with the Radiohead-esque 'Pressure', apparently to be issued as the band's first ever single in January. To be honest this wasn't my favourite track on the album, but live it comes over much better with the added power generated by the two guitars adding to its impact.  The other highlight from the new album was the final track 'Temporary Peace', a relaxed and atmospheric song which works well in the live arena as a nice change of pace and emphasis, especially here following the emotionally intense title track. Female vocals were provided, as on the album, by Lee Douglas, who deservedly got a warm round of applause from the audience for her efforts.

The best track of the night for me was the title track from 'Judgement', a song which sounds a little like Pink Floyd's 'Careful With That Axe Eugene' in its slow, considered build up before, like that track, erupting; the band riffing and thrashing away to great effect.  This also silenced, for a while, some more vocal fans at the front who spent much of the show calling for earlier, heavier material - whilst it's understandable that some people want to hear these tracks, Anathema have moved on and, in my opinion, are producing their strongest material now.  I'd guess that the band are also of this opinion, and the show does drift somewhat towards the end, when they play a couple of older, heavier tracks which to be honest don't really fit that well with the newer songs and drag a little.

I was also slightly disappointed that no encore was played although, in fairness, the band did play pretty much up to the 11 o'clock curfew - and anyway the sight of front man Vincent legging it back to the merchandise stall where he proceeded to take orders and sell merchandise and sign CDs, tickets etc for fans, meant this was completely understandable.  Hopefully they'll be able to afford to pay someone else to look after this area in the future!

Overall another fine gig from one of the UK's best rock bands. Check them out if you can...

Tom