Anata - Under A Stone With No Inscription

Rating: 9.1

Country: Sweden

Release Date: 2004

Track list:
1. Shackled to Guilt
2. A Problem Yet to be Solved [MP3]
3. Entropy Within
4. Dance to the Song of Apathy
5. Sewerages of the Mind
6. Built on Sand
7. Under the Debris
8. The Drowning
9. Leaving The Spirit Behind
10. Any Kind of Magic or Miracle

Total playing time 44:51

Band Website: Anata

Anata - Under A Stone With No Inscription

Andreas Allenmark - Guitar
Henrik Drake - Bass
Conny Pettersson - Drums
Fredrik Schälin - Vocals, Guitar

Oh Fuck! This album just came out of nowhere. I never really paid attention to Anata before... not sure why... maybe the name confused me. The word translates into a formal "you" in Japanese. Don't know what it means in this context, but it's an odd name for a death metal band. Nonetheless, I feel like an ass for not catching on sooner. These guys have some serious chops. I mean, really nasty, twisted and sick riffage all over this disc. If you've been waiting for a worthy successor to Demilich's 'Nespithe' album, or even the last offerings from Gorguts and Necrophagist, this may well be it. I can't say enough about how off-the-wall the guitars on this album are - just riff, after riff, after insane riff for a good 45 minutes. 'Under A Stone With No Inscription' is Swedish melodic death metal reinvented.

To be honest, these guys aren't terrific songwriters. Their compositions, for the most part, feel somewhat blocky, like so many other death metal bands these days. But what sets them apart from most of their peers is that they actually know when to slow down and let their music breathe. And when given breathing room, the riffs on this album really sink their claws into you. The mid-paced scale climbing at the beginning of "Under the Debris", the acrobatic between-verse harmonics on "Entropy Within", the atmospheric trill swells in the middle of "The Drowning" and the understated, but powerful 3-tone arpeggio in "Dance To the Song of Apathy" are just a few of the many terrific riffs that highlight this album and put it well ahead of the pack.

Anata are terrific musicians and have a knack for writing creative riffs. On 'Under A Stone With No Inscription' they do a great job of balancing classic death metal aggression with an acute sense of harmony. On top of that, this album does not wear thin towards its end - there's no numbing of the listener's attention by way of incessant blasting, and the wide variety of chords in addition to changing tempos keeps things interesting. There's still plenty of room to improve by making the songs more fluid and adding even more dimensions to the band's sound [some more clean guitar parts as in "Any Kind of Magic Or Miracle" would be splendid], but these guys definitely have the personality and talent to really make an impact on a genre in dire need of fresh ideas.

June 6th, 2005