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Jun 8, 2017This set is unified, fully realized, and eloquent, on par with the grandest of musical statements, yet utterly accessible.
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Kerrang!Jun 23, 2017A band finding new ways to be magnificent so far into their career. [10 Jun 2017, p.52]
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Jun 9, 2017Listening to The Optimist is an intense experience, and can have wild transitions from one song to the next given how different some tracks are from others. They are able to make it work though, being an adventurous and engaging continuation, and conclusion, of a past record's concept that still sees the band evolving in a rewarding fashion.
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Jun 7, 2017As with most of Anathema’s records, this is one that fans of Elbow and Radiohead would love every bit as much as fans of Opeth or Marillion.
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Jun 7, 2017On The Optimist, Anathema really do cement their title as one of the UK’s most revered rock bands, prog or otherwise: it’s a big jumble of ambitious ideas, executed near-perfectly--a mess, but a big, sprawling, dense, euphoric, beautiful one.
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Jun 7, 2017It may not top what came right before it, but it still beats almost everything else that’s been released so far this year.
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Jun 23, 2017It is not that The Optimist is awful, exactly--just uninspiring.
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Jun 7, 2017At one extreme, you sense Anathema want to be taken seriously (in the way that, say, the aforementioned Mogwai are taken seriously); unfortunately, however, there are times they can sound a bit like Deacon Blue or Tom Odell, which is not to be wished for.