ANATHEMA frontman Vincent Cavanagh is featured in a new interview with Radio Metal. An excerpt is available below:

RM: Since the We’re Here Because We’re Here album took you so long to release, and since it was so difficult, do you have some special relationship to this album, that you don’t with every other album?

Cavanagh: "No, not at all. We’re Here Because We’re Here was much like any other album, really. The difference was that it was the first time we made an album that we were truly, 100% proud of, really happy with. Everything we’ve done since then has followed the same path. I can say the same thing for Falling Deeper, we’re completely, 100% proud of that. And equally, we’re proud of Weather Systems. So what happened with We’re Here Because We’re Here is that the game changed. Anathema suddenly started to realize its potential. And from there, we’re taking that forward. But it’s one of the eternal things about any artists: when you’ve made a great work, you can’t go backwards. You have to either live up to it or do better the next time around. I think we have done that."

RM: Even if it’s released only two years after the previous one, Weather Systems is very different from its predecessor. How did you manage to change the atmosphere between those two records?

Cavanagh: "We always do that. That’s how we write, we’re always progressing forward. The next one’s going to be different again. We’re one of those bands, you know. We do this because we have to. We make music and art for the art. We don’t really have a choice as far as progression in concerned: that’s how the music wants to be. It wants to progress, it changes all the time. I use the word 'it' because sometimes, it’s almost like we’re not completely in control. It’s something that’s more subconscious; you don’t make a conscious decision to say: 'Let’s make an album that’s different from the last one.' It just happens naturally. Do you understand? That can happen in any song. I may wake up tomorrow and have an idea for a song that sounds completely different than anything else I’ve ever done. And I follow it, and it’s almost as if the song, the idea, leads you where it needs to go. Part of the songwriting process is actually knowing when to get out of the way and let the song take the lead, you know? The song dictates what it wants to be eventually. That’s one of the secrets about progressive music, and about how you can progress with music: don’t think too much. If you do think, then just try not to repeat yourself. We never really want to repeat ourselves, that would be too boring. Music is infinite, and what we can do with music is whatever we like. There’s no end to it, you know?"

RM: It means you have no limits, since it’s so very spontaneous.

Cavanagh: "Yes, exactly. We put out stuff that we like. Anathema doesn’t have a select sound or a select genre. Anathema is just one of those bands that keeps changing. If people don’t know that already, they will eventually have to know it, because that’s what we do."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Weather Systems tracklisting:

'Untouchable, Part 1'

'Untouchable, Part 2'

'The Gathering Of The Clouds'

'Lightning Song'

'Sunlight'

'The Storm Before The Calm'

'The Beginning And The End'

'The Lost Child'

'Internal Landscapes'

More on the band at this location

Anathema recently issued the following update:

"One of the most remarkable consequences of the digital music age is that vinyl has made something of a comeback. Remember vinyl kids? It was like a big flat mp3, only it sounded better. The demand for high quality sound and packaging has been reawakened in recent years and I'm proud to share these pictures of the Anathema album Eternity (1996). Reissued by Svart Records and re-packaged by Duncan the way it was originally intended to be.

The new package includes: all white gatefold artwork, original design, a new lyric booklet with liner notes from Duncan, a bag and of course two heavyweight 12" vinyls, repressed for maximum sound quality. Limited to just 1000 copies (500 white vinyl, 500 black). Don't miss this one. Get yours here."