British Doom Metal: The Greatest Albums

5. Anathema – The Silent Enigma (1995)

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In 1995, the era of Gothic Doom was upon us and Anathema, already progressing at a rate of knots, unleashed The Silent Enigma, their last true dalliance with Doom Metal and a Gothic- Doom milestone.

Anathema took the obligatory shuffling, lurching riffs of Doom and laced them with melancholy; clean guitar sections and spoken word vocals competing with growled utterances and distorted riffs to create a thrillingly unique album that fully embraced dynamics and channelled their ever-evolving ideas. The opening one-two of “Restless Oblivion” and “Shroud of Frost” particularly showcased the bands new, sadly short-lived, direction with the grinding gloom of debut Serenades notably replaced with a progressive air. 

The Silent Enigma took Anathema’s verbose Doom style to a whole other level and perhaps that explains their desire to slowly abandon it altogether; their work in that environment had already been done and The Silent Enigma still retains its power and place as one of British Doom’s greatest moments. 

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