Anathema "The Silent Enigma (UK, Peaceville Records, CDVILE 52)"

The Silent Enigma is the second album by British rock band Anathema, released on 23 October 1995 through Peaceville Records.

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.

Tracklist:

1. Restless Oblivion 08:03
2. Shroud of Frost 07:31   
3. ...Alone 04:24  
4. Sunset of the Age 06:57   
5. Nocturnal Emission 04:20
6. Cerulean Twilight 07:06
7. The Silent Enigma 04:25
8. A Dying Wish 08:12   
9. Black Orchid 03:40

Time:  54:38

A remastered version of The Silent Enigma was released on 2003 by Peaceville Records. The 2-disc package features the band's 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".

Album art "Lady in Milton's Comus" by Joseph Wright (1734-1797) used by kind permission of The Board of Trustees of National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside (Walker Art Gallery).

Horsehead Nebula picture: Royal Observatory, Edinburgh / AATB / Science Photo Library.

The first CD pressing by Peaceville, the cassette version of Hammer Müzik and both the CD and cassette versions by Metal Mind Records, incorrectly list track 4 as "Sunset of the Age" (instead of "Sunset of Age" which is the right title). This has been corrected on later versions.

A music video was made for song "The Silent Enigma".

Recording information:

All tracks recorded at Lynx Studios, Newcastle except "...Alone" recorded at M.A. Studios, Liverpool.

Mixed at the Academy, Dewsbury.

Meany - photography (band)

Simon Mooney - photography

Danny Cavanagh - orchestral arrangements

Mags - mixing

Hammy - executive producer

Kev Ridley - engineering

Joseph Wright of Derby - cover art. "Lady in Milton's Comus", 1785.