Anathema - A Fine Day to Exit (2001)
©Music For Nations
United Kingdom
Tracklist:
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Pressure (6:44)
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Release (5:47)
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Looking Outside Inside (6:23)
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Leave No Trace (4:46)
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Underworld (4:10)
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Barriers (5:54)
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Panic (3:30)
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A Fine Day to Exit (6:49)
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Temporary Peace (18:26)
Although Anathema is currently my favourite band and will most likely remain my favorite for a long time, I am still quite new to them. I decided to give this album a good listen, because "Temporary Peace" is in it. "Temporary Peace" is literally what defines musical perfection to me, so I figured if I find this song so amazing, then the rest of the album should be great too, since it is Anathema after all. Was I right? Yes I was. "A Fine Day To Exit" is a great album. I know I'm probably repeating from my "Hindsight" review, but I've never listened to band of such perfection in my life.
To me this album represents an escape, because most of the songs seem to represent wanting to get away or being in another place. "Release" is about taking a breath and escaping for a second just to get away from awful reality. "Pressure" is also about getting away from someone frightening and sickening. Certain uses of words really bring you to a certain place and after listening to songs with lyrics such as "I eat my hands 'cause my legs are dying." (from the song "Panic") you would be able to picture the feeling that is trying to be shown through the track. As you may notice, lyrics play a very big part in music for me.
This album gives me a reason to love "Temporary Peace" even more, because I see it as a relief. The sound of the waves crashing, the calmness of the music and then the more positive lyrics. Everything was Hell before, but now peace is found and everything is calm, warm and beautiful. After that we see that it was actually 'a fine day to exit' (lame enough as it sounds) because there was enough awfulness and suffering and it couldn't be taken any longer and the temporary peace is finally found.
This album does not, however end the way I expected it to. After "Temporary Peace" ends there's the sound of waves crashing for a couple minutes, then all of a sudden there's some weird monologue of someone talking about chickens. Apparently they're supposed to sound crazy. I guess that may be where the word "temporary" comes in. It goes silent after that for another couple minutes, then an acoustic song comes on. I looked it up and it's called "In The Dog's House." I don't particularly like it, but I guess it's not meant to be too great, since it's hidden anyways.
-Melanie
