Review by ZeroSymbolic7188 for Anathema - The Silent Enigma (1995)

This album marked the beginning of my review journey to secure the fallen clan, and I am a doom metal head, but this missed the mark pretty hard for me. I got to the first set of vocals on the first track, and the vocals are just too off-putting for me. The music is pretty but not particularly heavy in my opinion. To my ears it sounded hollow, and lacking in bottom end (I'm a bassist). Not wanting to be negative or react too quickly I looked at the other reviews that had been written, and the vocal was a point of contention even for the listeners who rated the album highly-a signal to me that it was not going to improve. I decided I couldn't look past them. 

What is the problem with these vocals? To begin with they are clean, and I personally gravitate to dirty vocals. I am aware that the dirtier vocals are present later on in the album but these cleans just don't hit. Had the singer opted for a death guttoral, or a harsh screech like what is found in certain SDBM bands, it might have suited me better.  As it stands the clean option was chosen and Vincent Cavanagh is not Aaron Stainthorpe. No disrespect intended to Mr. Cavanagh, eveybody has opinions and these are simply mine.