Search - Anata :: Under a Stone With No Inscription

Superb death metal gem!

John Weathers | Smyrna, GA USA | 11/14/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Anata have released a fine piece of musicianship on this album. All death metal fans and any fan of excellently composed and precisely played metal should snap this album up and put it in a special place on their shelf. I've been listening to it almost non-stop since I bought it. What makes these ten tracks so special is that they not only interest the listener upon an initial hearing, but like many a fine wine, they age very well with repeated listenings only enhancing their appeal as the listener comes to appreciate the strong but not overbearing melodies, the technical prowess of each of the players, the rich layers of contrast built into each song, not to mention the songs' sheer visceral brutality. Anata are the cream of the crop when it comes to death metal, and I look forward to experiencing further albums from this truly talented band. I highly recommend this album and trust that death metal lovers and open-minded music lovers will not be disappointed!"

Pure tech-deathy goodness

Wheelchair Assassin | The Great Concavity | 01/02/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While death metal is a largely lackluster genre even in absolute terms, the shortcomings of most of its practicioners become even more apparent in comparison to the few bands that actually manage to make it sound good, most notably Suffocation and occasionally Cryptopsy and Kataklysm. Fortunately, to the short list of bands that make death metal interesting you can now add the name Anata. This Swedish quartet may not be as well-known as some of its peers, but it should take about five minutes of listening to Under a Stone With no Inscription to realize they're not your average death-metal band. These guys unleash one of the tightest, most disciplined metallic assaults of the year on this album.



While the guitar tone isn't quite as heavy as you might be given to expect in this style, guitarists Fredrik Schallin (doubling on vocals) and Andreas Allenmark more than make up for it with their intelligent and methodical style. On each song here they cycle through a variety of buzzsaw-like riffs and crazed meters, and they even throw some melody in now and then for good measure, although it's not at all done in that cliched "Swedish" style that about 47 million bands are using right now. On vocals, Schallin never strays too far from his throaty, imperious death growl, but he does suit the music extremely well. If you're not a fan of death vocals this guy certainly won't change your mind, but he's good enough. Drummer Conny Petersson is a huge plus as well, piling blastbeats upon fills upon double-bass with a seemingly telepathic ear as to what's needed at a given moment. As is par for the death-metal course, Henrik Drake's bass is somewhat buried underneath everything else, but when he's audible he can be heard doing some pretty tricky stuff, such as that opening rumble on Shackled to Guilt.



Throughout the album, Anata stick pretty closely to the tech-death template, but that doesn't mean they don't mix things up a bit. Unlike, say, Cannibal Corpse, these guys do make it a point to write songs that sound somewhat different from each other. The opener, Shackled to Guilt, is a sonic roller coaster ride, furiously alternating between chunks of grinding riffage and hard-driving harmonies. Sewerages of the Mind is a work of dizzying complexity, rivaling even the best compositions on such legendary albums as Suffocation's Pierced from Within and Cryptopsy's Whisper Supremacy. The Drowning effortlessly weaves in a lead line that WILL bounce around in your head for days, and boasts some surprisingly tasteful solos to boot. The album concludes with a bona fide epic in the form of Any Kind of Magic or Miracle, which actually introduces some (relatively) quiet and atmospheric elements into the mix, but there's still plenty of uncompromising brutality on display.



Ultimately, this album (and band) probably won't find too many followers outside of traditional death-metal circles, but that's too bad, as Anata have a lot to offer for the more open-minded listeners out there. For the record, when I'm in the mood for some extreme metal I generally gravitate towards more adventurous bands such as the Dillinger Escape Plan, Meshuggah, and Converge, but I still managed to find a lot to like here. For tech-death it certainly doesn't get much better."

They just get better and better...

United Abominations | 10/26/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"ANATA - UNDER A STONE WITH NO INSCRIPTION



Anata were never the most popular death metal act. Their previous two albums, while not getting the claim to fame of other bands from their home country of Sweden, proved to be something truly unique and showed that they were a force to be reckoned with. Then Anata came out with their third release, "under A Stone With No Inscription", and while you won't be seeing this band on Headbanger's Ball anytime soon (though this album does hold their one music video), this could be considered the album that made Anata a more well-known name in the death metal community. This album takes what they did on the previous record, and improves on it.



One thing you'll notice about this album is the improved production value. Don't worry, it isn't polished so much that it sounds ready for airplay; it's just made a bit clearer than the last two albums. Fredrik's growls are more diverse here than on the last album, enunciating his lyrics better and more clearly. The guitarwork, like always, is the highlight, as they take another turn. As far as technical proficiency goes, Fredrik and Andreas show it off more here than any other Anata album (again, without sounding pretentious). The sheer variety of riffs in this album is staggering. You have standard death metal tremolo riffs, sweeping and arpeggio work invoking bands like Necrophagist, noodly prog riffs, dissonant and mathy Gorguts style riffs, melodic death metal harmonies, there's even a black metal style riff in one song! Yet throughout all of this technical insanity, Anata manage to make it flow together so well and make it sound so natural that the riffs, despite their complexity, will be stuck in your head for days! The lead guitar makes another change. Melody seems to take on a bit more of a jazzy tone on this album. Where "Dreams of Death and Dismay" had a major focus on leads and solos, this album tones it down a bit so the insane barrage of riffing can have a bit more room to breathe. Don't fear, for there are still shredding guitar solos to drool over, just not as many. The soloing here utilizes a bit of atonality, but it's the jazzy kind, not the Slayer kind, mixed with Chuck Schuldiner. Conny has a bit more room to breathe here as well. While he went a little blast crazy on the last album, here he gets to be a little more flexible. In fact, I would say that on this album, he sounds like a progressive metal drummer through a death metal filter. There's still ferocious blasting here, but it is utilized alongside various other techniques to mold the songs. Henrik, as usual, is the member to stick to the familiar path, though his basslines do seem to have a bit more impact now. Anyways, onto the album:



Shackled to Guilt: Anata doesn't play around. As soon as the album begins, you are smattered with a barrage of noodly but catchy guitar riffing, with Fredrik and Andreas harmonizing a little bit. Conny then surprises us with an awesome drum solo(!) After a spoken word bit, Fredrik lets out a monstrous roar as your brain and your neck are torn to shreds by an extremely technical but catchy riff. Henrik's bassline here only makes this part even more headbangable! At about one minute, a catchy drum beat shifts the song into a riff that almost sounds like a technical thrash riff with some blasting peppered here and there. The vocals here are very powerful, with the pessimistic lyrics: "and I cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel". Another breakneck tempo change segues into more awesome riffing and blastbeats. At 2:10, the song shifts back to the part from the beginning of the song. At 2:40, some guitar dissonance leads into an awesome, adrenaline pumping assault with more technical riffing. The same technical thrash riffs end the song. Definitely the most brutal track on the album.



A Problem Yet to Be Solved: The song blasts off with some prog-death riffs and blasting. We then get an otherworldly Gorguts style melody from the guitars. This alternates until about 0:55, where the song shifts to a midtempo groove. The highlight of the song comes at 1:32, where some awesome drum fills lead into some crazy riffing, finger tapping and dual harmonies. This part is just amazing, and has to be heard to believed. It then shifts back into the riffs from the beginning and more blasting. At 2:18 is a nice black metal influenced section. The rest of the song follows this same pattern. Remember the amazing part from earlier? THEY PLAY IT AGAIN AT 3:07. My god this band is awesome! This song fades into...



Entropy Within: This is probably Anata's most famous song, and is their only song to have a music video. The song begins with a bouncy drum beat and some of the catchiest riffing I've ever heard in a tech-death album. A quick break leads into some noodly riffing and some drum fills before going back to the catchy riffing again, with some nice double bass. It then cuts to more tech riffing and blasting, and alternates one more time. Some chromatic riffing at 1:21 leads into a short Slayer style cat-in-a-blender solo. Did I mention the vocals here are very catchy? "Fight the enemies within. FIGHT THE ENTROPY WITHIN!" At 2:30 into the song...I probably wouldn't care if they put this part on loop for four minutes and called it a song, it's that awesome. Schalin and Allenmark begin doing this dual tradeoff fingertapping, and it's quite possibly the most epic part on the entire album. If you buy this album for anything, buy it to hear this part of the song! Another awesome set of riffs carries the song to the end, where the band decides that playing the amazing tapping section once isn't enough, so THEY DO IT AGAIN!



Dance To The Song of Apathy: After three speedy songs, the band decides to go for a more catchy midpaced song. After a blasting section, the song leads into some midpaced riffing and some great drumming. Seriously. Where on most Anata songs have the guitar as the highlight, this song gives Conny a chance to show off his drumming skills. Just listen to all of the fills, the double bass work, the rolls, the unorthodox patterns, usually more than one at a time! At 0:45, some great arpeggio work leads into a nice little drum roll before leading into more blasting and crazy riffing, with Fredrik's commanding vocals leading the way. The song goes midpaced again while Conny shows his skills on the kit. The song marches to the end.



Sewerages of the Mind: Another album highlight. Where the drums controlled the last song, here the guitars take the forefront again, more so than usual. A melodic riff opens the song, followed by a nice dual guitar solo. More harmonized technical melodies push the song forward, laced with double bass. Then some bouncy, proggy noodling leads to another awesome solo tradeoff, followed by some abstract death metal riffing, leading into more harmonizing and catchy riffing, followed by some thrashy riffing. More melodic riffs lead to yet another tradeoff solo to cap the song off.



Built on Sand: This song is closer to traditional death metal. A marching Morbid Angel section starts the song off, leading into some more brain boggling guitar work, seguing into some traditional death metal tremolo riffing and blasting. This is followed by some chunky riffing, which leads to more odd riffing, followed by another Morbid Angel style section. A ripping solo flies in at 2:39, followed by some more blasting and abstract riffwork.



Under the Debris: This song is so catchy it isn't even funny. The bouncy, ascending/descending riff that opens the song will stick in your head like glue. Conny's odd time signatures sound so natural here, and never forced. The song begins midpaced before the tempo cuts to an uptempo section. The guitarwork shifts between death metal riffs and prog noodling as usual until Allenmark lets out a weird whammy bar lead underneath. More catchy, labyrinthine riffing is mixed with great drumming. This song has the least blasting out of any song on here, which allows the band to showcase other talents. The angular riffing intertwines with some great cymbal work by Conny, leading into a twisted, harmonized breakdown. Seriously, this breakdown is one of the most strange i've ever heard.



The Drowning: Some cymbal work and a nice bassline leads into some memorable riffing. Some technical arpeggios lead to more tremolo riffs, alternating back to a series of dual arpeggios. This song seriously has some of their best arpeggio work. I also love the Oriental atmoshphere that this song has, especially at 1:35, where the song cuts to an atmospheric break where the guitar melody gives it an epic feel and-wait, is that a gong in the background? Oh well, it sounds awesome. More melodies drive the song until 2:44, where the guitar play some of the most emotional, memorable riffs I've ever heard in death metal. Not emotional in the watered down, poppy sense, but emotional as in you can tell they put their hearts into this music. More arpeggios lead to more death metal riffs, with a short bass interlude thrown in, lead the song to the end.



Leaving the Spirit Behind: This song stands out because there is no prog or melodic influences here. This song is just straight up technical death metal. Tremolo riffing and blasting propel the song forward. More crunchy riffing leads into more complex riffing and, followed by a Morbid Angel-esque section. It then alternates between blasty tech-death and the Morbid Angel style breaks. Did I mention already that this song is heavily influenced by Morbid Angel? Even the solo at 2:48 sounds like something Trey Azagthoth would come up with! Some tremolo and crunchy riffing end the song.



Any Kind of Magic or Miracle: Another big highlight. This seven minute epic is your treat for making it to the end of the album. A midpaced prog riff starts the song off, with some underlying double bass work and drum fills, leading into some chugging chromatic riffing, with an atmospheric riff thrown in here and there. They stay midpaced until about 1:22 where more blasting and evil riffing ensues. One thing that's awesome about this song is the lyrical content. I honestly think Anata are the first death metal band to write a song about Feng Shui. Anyways, the mixture of different riffs drives the song to another midpaced section, with Fredrik's growls sounding particularly furious. At 3:14 Fredrik rips out a Chuck Schuldiner on steroids style guitar solo. More riff barrages shift through Conny's various tempo changes until 3:52 where a tradeoff solo section pops up that sounds like a mixture between Chuck Schuldiner and Trey Azagthoth's solos. At 4:30 comes the clean guitar break. This part of the song is just astounding. It's amazing to hear the clean guitars harmonize with each other. The rhythm section provides a great backdrop for the amazing clean guitars. At 5:33 the bands shifts to a midtempo march with some triumphant sounding riffing and patterns. Some mind boggling riffs pop up and at about 6:03 ANOTHER amazing solo tradeoff occurs, with a variety of different guitar solos being utilized. The song then shifts back into midtempo until the end.



This album is where Anata proved to the death metal community that they meant business. Its technical death metal with a sense of passion. Do not pass up on this overlooked gem!



PS: Could somebody please tell me what that thing is on the album cover?



Do I Recommend: YES YES YES!

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