Search - Anata :: Dreams of Death & Dismay

Amazing Technical Death Metal

C. A. Spellman | 11/21/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"ANATA's second attack on the scene is an utterly astounding piece of surgical, shredding, diabolical and merciless carnage. ANATA have really taken the scene by the neck and rung it something fierce as this album embodies the finest attributes of technical Death Metal and infuriated it with wrathful and homicidal brilliance. It must be understood that what really makes this album so successful is the incredible craftiness of the musicians who wrote it and their remarkable musical abilities. From an architectural vantage point, this is truly amazing. Blazing guitar work is highlighted by frenetic flurries of savage technical riffing, supported by punishing drum blasting. Weighing down this sonic butchery are the expected rasping death vocals executed by a guitarist who seems too impossibly busy with his amazing playing to have time to shout them. Those of you who remember Finland's DEMILICH will see the likeness during your listen to this album. Fuse that influence with the likes of Northern Sweden's kings of technical Death/Black Metal, THEORY IN PRACTICE and you have yourself the chemistry of ANATA. Dreams... is an album not easily ingested upon one or two listens. Its an incredibly complex clockwork opus of dizzy proportions and every listen seems to yield something new. This truly is some of the busiest Death Metal you are likely to hear this year or this decade for that matter. There is no doubt the band worked long days to put this together and a commendable job it is. All modernism of the genre are discarded such as clean vocals or long acoustical passages. This is pure disembowlment but always methodically skilled and coherent. Dreams... could be 2001's best and purest Death Metal album. Few will argue after hearing it for themselves and I at once order you to submit to ANATA and torture yourself with this latest 10-track effort."

Great CD!!

C. A. Spellman | 08/17/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ok I've been a fan of this band since "The Infernal Depths Of Hatred" and for those who have heard that CD will find this CD to be a big change. For all those fans of the first CD, their will be mixed feelings. First off, they've removed much of the melodies that were found on "The Infernal Depths Of Hatred". They've decided to go for more of a strictly Death Metal approach on this CD. Honestly for me, it took me a while to adapt to this CD but now, I LOVE IT! I think Anata changed for the better and have evolved greatly as a band from their beginnings, up to now. For all those fans of aggressive death metal, this is one of the near-essential albums of 2001 and if you don't own it, I suggest you go pick it up!"

Anata finally finds their sound

United Abominations | 10/20/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"ANATA - Dreams of Death and Dismay



Anata never ceases to amaze me. They are my favorite band, and for good reason. They are able to change things up a bit on every album, while still having that core sound that makes them stand out from the crowd. These guys just get better with each album, and it shows here as well. Their sophomore effort shows them becoming a full-fledged technical death metal band. Don't let that label worry you however. While some bands are technical for the sake of being technical (as much as I hate to admit it, some of my other favorite bands are sometimes guilty of this), these guys actually utilize technicality to craft songs. This album is more brutal and technical than "The Infernal Depths of Hatred", but it still retains the sense of emotion and melody that their debut had. Vocalist/guitarist Fredrik Schalin is at the top of his game as usual. He is not only my favorite death metal vocalist and guitarist, but he is also my favorite songwriter, as evident by the memorable songs to be found on this album. Whereas he and Allenmark shared vocal duties on the debut, Schalin takes the role of lead vocalist here, while Allenmark sticks to backing vocals. Schalin's growls are deep enough to be menacing and furious, but they aren't the total toilet bowl gutturals that a lot of brutal death metal bands abuse nowadays. In fact, get this; you can actually understand what he's saying! The guitarwork is and has always been my favorite aspect of the band. The guitarplaying is even more technical than on the debut, as we see Schalin and Allanmark utilizing jazz and classical influences, without going overboard with them. Their unique use of dissonance really takes form on this album. They combine this dissonance with their riffing and melodies. The riffing is some of the most creative I've ever heard in the death metal genre. Rather than ripping off Suffocation like a lot of bands do nowadays, they carve their own path by using Gorguts-style dissonance and employing it with a variety of death metal riffing. The lead work has improved from the debut. The memorable melodies are still there. There is no Iron Maiden thievery in these melodies, instead blending melody with dissonance, utilizing sweeping and arpeggios when necessary. The solos have vastly improved. Where the debut only had a few solos that were nothing but Slayeresqe squabbles, it's a whole different ball game here. Not only are solos a lot more common on this album, but they are of better quality and structure, and most of all, unique. The solos here invoke 80's guitar shredders like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, with a bit of neoclassical influence thrown in. Schalin plays most of the solos, and his are more technical, while Allenmark's are closer to those on the debut. Robert Petersson has been replaced by who I assume to be his relative Conny. No offense to Robert, but Conny outclasses him in the drumming department. His fills, patterns, and blastbeats are more complex and flow better than Robert's. He utilizes quite a few odd time signatures here as well. This is probably their most "blasty" album, but blastbeats are still utilized tastefully. Henrik Drake's basslines are probably the only thing that hasn't really changed that much, except that he takes a completely rhythm based stance here, though I wish he would have thrown in another bass solo like on the debut.



"Die Laughing" opens up the album, and you can already hear some of the changes from the debut. Some technical, dissonant, and catchy riffing opens up the song, while Conny begins to blast away. Fredrik's guitarwork is extremely technical with a sharp tone, and his vocals are more ferocious than ever. At 1:17 an extremely catchy, shredding guitar lead comes through, followed by crazy tremolo riffing and commanding growls, with some very catchy drum patterns by Conny. More insane proggy tech noodling follows, yet for some reason it doesn't sound self indulgent at all. The same guitar lead we heard earlier comes flying in again at 3:09, followed by some evil sounding riffage and Conny's wacky patterns ending the song. Following that is one of my favorites: "Faith, Hope, Self-Deception". The lyrics in this song are anti-religious, but this is addressed on a more personal, down-to-earth level. The song begins with a nice midpaced riff, followed by a more chuggy riff, flowing into a complex melody. At 1:36, it cuts to a clean guitar break that is simply breathtaking in the 12 seconds that it lasts. It then flows into some arpeggio work that is simply beautiful, laced with some nice double-bass work. The song then suddenly shifts tempo into hyperspeed blasting. At 3:05 Schalin rips a badass shredding guitar solo followed by a more uptempo part. The song then shifts back to the heavy section from the beginning, followed by another awesome solo by Schalin at 3:57. After that, great duel arpeggios come from our favorite guitar duo, which segues into more blasting and angular riffing to top this masterpiece of a song off. Next up is "God of Death" which segues in from the last song with some midpaced technical riffing and some weird drum patterns. More midpaced riffing follows, with a solo popping up at 1:26. Some evil riffs pop up at 1:49, followed by another crazy solo as the tempo picks up again. Some melodic (but still death metal) riffing follows before the song cuts back to more catchy midpaced riffing. At 3:19 comes a short but spine crushing breakdown, but don't let that word scare you, as there isn't a trace of -core to be found on this album. Some excellent riffing ends out this song. The riffing that opens up "Metamorphosis By The Well of Truth" is both memorable and brain scrambling. The song then blast off into more catchy riffing. Allenmark's backing vocals at 0:30 are, well...interesting. Anyways, at 0:44 comes a quick solo followed by more blazing riffs, before the song shifts to more midtempo territory, where Henrik get to play some bouncy basslines over catchy riffing. More blasting and crazy tech riffing ensues, followed by more grooving off time drumming by Conny and some cool riffing. More soloing comes in at four minutes, with more technical riffing. "Dreamon" is the shortest song on the album at 2:28. As you expected, this song is the most straightforward on the album. Fredrik's growls are particularly furious here. More angular riffs and blasting carry this song along. It's probably the weakest song on here, but it's still good. "Can't Kill What's Already Dead" blasts away with some dissonant riffs, followed by more arpeggios. The song then settles on a nice groove while they play a very short lead. More speedy guitarwork and double bass ensues. Some nice drum fills towards the end of the song by Conny intertwine with more angular riffing. "Insurrection" is next, and throws some dark, twisted riffs at you. The song speeds up about 1:20 in the song, before going back into a techy groove. About 2:10 in, a morbid, melancholy melody ensues, followed by a solo tradeoff between Schalin and Allenmark, with Schalin's being more melodic, while Allenmark's is more chaotic. The song picks up again after that before coming to a close. "The Enigma of Number Three" begins with a short riff over clean guitar. The guitars play some cool dual harmonies before launching off into some tech riffing and some unique drumming. An awesome but short solo pops up at 1:42. The riff at 2:20 is awesome, but I wish it lasted longer. More badass tradeoff soloing occurs at 3:05, followed by some noodly riffing. I love how their guitarwork is really technical, yet it doesn't sound pretentious at all. This song flows into "Drain of Blood", which immediately begins ripping you apart with furious riffing and blastbeats. More catchy riffing ensues, followed by some buzzy tremolo lines. This alternates until about 2:52 where a melody pops up that almost reminds me of early Amorphis if they were a technical death metal band. At 3:05 they shift to another awesome lead melody accompanied by Conny's kickass drumming. At 3:12 Schalin solos again, flowing back into the previous melody. More blastbeats and catchy riffing ends the song. The closer "The Temple/Erratic" is the longest song on the album and in Anata's catalog right now, clocking in at 8:45. The epic starts with some proggy riffs, accompanied by Conny's odd time signatures. The tempo shifts to a speedy section with similar riffing. At 1:17, the tempo changes again, resembling something from Purgatory Afterglow/Crimson era Edge of Sanity in the guitar melody, with a short bass fill by Henrik. At 2:05, the guitars play some awesome dual arpeggios, shifting into a Morbid Angel style breakdown at 2:31. The tempo picks up again at 3:07, followed by another Morbid Angel-esqe breakdown. At 5:05 the guitars begin playing some awesome Erosion of Sanity-era Gorguts dissonant riffs, followed by a quick solo. At 5:40 comes another clean guitar break that is just amazing, accompanied by a harmony at 6:07 that starts off as subtle, then gets heavier. At 6:36 an awesome tradeoff solo section comes out of nowhere, followed by a melody that is the same as the clean one. Another solo pops up, with more angular riffs and drum patterns winding the song down.



This is the album where Anata found their sound, and they would continue to get better and perfect it on subsequent releases. Though I will warn you about one thing: out of Anata's entire discography, this one was probably the most difficult listen. It may take a few spins, but you'll love it. Definitely recommended for death metal fans, but also fans of prog metal and technical music.



Do I Recommend: Definitely!

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