| The Silent Enigma | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 1995 | |||
| Recorded | May–June 1995 at Lynx Studios, Newcastle, except "...Alone" (recorded at M. A. Studios, Liverpool) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 54:37 | |||
| Label | Peaceville | |||
| Producer | Anathema, Kevin Ridley | |||
| Anathema chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Silent Enigma is the second album by British rock band Anathema, released in 1995 through Peaceville Records.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Sputnikmusic |  [2] |
| Metal Storm |   [3] |
The Silent Enigma represents a turning point in Anathema's career (it is the first album to feature guitarist Vincent Cavanagh singing lead vocals, replacing Darren White) and sees the band incorporating more clean vocals and melodic elements, while still retaining the band's early death-doom style. The album was originally titled Rise Pantheon Dreams, a title later used by White for his post-Anathema project The Blood Divine.
Where Darren's vocals were more guttural, Vincent's newer style pushed the possibilities for Anathema onwards and upwards, with a scope and breath beyond his years. Lauded by the metal press, the album has since been described by Terrorizer magazine as "one of Anathema's best". The special edition of the album also features two bonus tracks.
Orchestral versions of "...Alone" and "Sunset of Age" were recorded for the 2011 compilation Falling Deeper .
All songs written by Anathema.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Restless Oblivion" | Duncan Patterson | Daniel Cavanagh, Patterson, Vincent Cavanagh | 8:03 |
| 2. | "Shroud of Frost" | V. Cavanagh, Derek Fullwood | D. Cavanagh | 7:31 |
| 3. | "...Alone" | D. Cavanagh | D. Cavanagh, Patterson | 4:24 |
| 4. | "Sunset of Age" | Vincent O'Connel | D. Cavanagh | 6:57 |
| 5. | "Nocturnal Emission" | Fullwood | Patterson, D. Cavanagh | 4:20 |
| 6. | "Cerulean Twilight" | John Douglas | Douglas | 7:05 |
| 7. | "The Silent Enigma" | O'Connel | D. Cavanagh | 4:25 |
| 8. | "A Dying Wish" | Patterson | Patterson, D. Cavanagh | 8:12 |
| 9. | "Black Orchid" | Patterson | Patterson | 3:40 |
| Total length: | 54:37 | |||
A remastered version of The Silent Enigma was released on 2003 by Peaceville Records. The 2-disc package features the entire The Silent Enigma album fully re-mastered on CD, along with a DVD featuring a live performance recorded in Kraków, Poland, in March 1996, as well as promotional videos for the tracks "Sweet Tears", "Mine Is Yours to Drown In (Ours Is the New Tribe)", "The Silent Enigma", and "Hope".
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10. | "The Silent Enigma (Orchestral)" | -- | D. Cavanaugh | 4:12 |
| 11. | "Sleepless 96" | Darren White | D. Cavanaugh | 4:31 |
| Total length: | 63:20 | |||
|
|
Anathema were an English rock band from Liverpool. The group was formed in 1990 by Vincent and Daniel Cavanagh, bassist Jamie Cavanagh, drummer/keyboardist John Douglas, and vocalist Darren White.
My Dying Bride are an English doom metal band formed in Bradford. Since their inception in 1990, they have released 13 studio albums, three EPs, one demo, one box set, four compilation albums, one live album, and one live CD/DVD release.
Blackstar were a British hard rock band, formed as a retooling of the band Carcass in 1995 without Bill Steer along with former Cathedral guitarist Mark Griffiths. The band name comes from a Carcass song off the Swansong 1996 album. Blackstar released only a single album. After a while, the band was forced to change its name to Blackstar Rising. The band dissolved because drummer Ken Owen suffered from a brain haemorrhage.
Transilvanian Hunger is the fourth studio album by Norwegian black metal band Darkthrone. It was released 17 February 1994 by Peaceville Records.
Dog Eat Dog is the third studio album by American rock band Warrant. It was released on August 25, 1992, on the Columbia label of Sony Music, and was their final album for the label. The album peaked at number 25 on The Billboard 200. It is also the last album to feature all five original members, as Joey Allen and Steven Sweet both left the band in 1994, but returned in 2004.
Alternative 4 is the fourth album by the British rock band Anathema. It was released on 22 June 1998 through Peaceville Records. Like Eternity, Alternative 4 is sung with clean vocals.
The Wounded is a Dutch Melancholic rock band from Emmen in the province of Drenthe, in the north of the Netherlands. They play a style of music that is variously described as Melancholic rock, Doom rock, Doom metal and Dark wave. They are often compared to bands like Type O Negative, Paradise Lost, Katatonia, Anathema and The Cure.
The Blood Divine were a British gothic metal band, founded in the summer of 1995 by Paul Allender, brothers Paul and Benjamin Ryan, and Darren White. Allender and the brothers Ryan had recently left Cradle of Filth after the release of The Principle of Evil Made Flesh and White had recently parted ways with Anathema. They recruited drummer William A. 'W.A.S.' Sarginson and bassist Steve Maloney and were quickly signed up by Peaceville Records.
Resonance Volume 2 is a compilation album by the British rock band Anathema. It was released in 2002 as a follow-up to 2001's Resonance.
Eternity is the third album by the British rock band Anathema. It was released on 11 November 1996 through Peaceville Records.
Pentecost III is an EP by the British doom metal band Anathema. It was recorded in 1994 but, due to a merging between labels Peaceville Records and Music for Nations, was not released until 1995. By this time, Darren White had been ousted from the band, whose remaining members were already working on their next album, The Silent Enigma. Pentecost III was re-issued as on one CD with The Crestfallen in 2001.
Serenades is the full-length debut album by British rock band Anathema. It was released in February 1993 through Peaceville Records.
The Crestfallen is a demo EP by the British doom metal band Anathema.
Dave Pybus is a British extreme metal musician, best known as the former bass player of Cradle of Filth.
Rise Pantheon Dreams is a compilation album by the British gothic metal band The Blood Divine. It features tracks from both the band's albums Mystica and Awaken, plus some previously unreleased material.
We're Here Because We're Here is the eighth album by the British rock band Anathema. It was released on 31 May 2010. The working title of the album was Horizons. The album was mixed by Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree.
Duncan Patterson is an English musician, best known for his work as a member of Anathema (1991–1998) and Antimatter (1998–2005).
Mine Is Yours is the third studio album by American indie rock band Cold War Kids. It was released on January 25, 2011, by Downtown Records.
Midnight in the Labyrinth is an orchestral compilation album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. The re-recorded songs selected are from the band's first four releases. The title comes from the lyrics of "Mistress from the Sucking Pit", a bonus track on some editions of Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa.
Falling Deeper is an album of orchestral re-interpretations from British atmospheric rock band Anathema released on 5 September 2011. The album is a follow-up to 2008's Hindsight, for which the band recorded different versions of their past songs.
