Anathema - "The Optimist" (2017) : their last (untill now) and best album

The day Anathema released their eleventh album, The Optimist, Danny and Vinnie Cavanagh were in different places. Not physically — the brothers were gearing up to play a show that evening in Russia, one of the many overseas strongholds their band has built up across their sometimes turbulent, frequently triumphant 28-year career.

But mentally, they were in separate headspaces. Danny, the band’s guitarist and chief songwriter, was online, scanning reviews of the new album. He was keen to see what people were saying about an album that he had poured heart and soul into. Most of the notices were positive, but there were one or two bloggers who were unimpressed.

By contrast, Vinnie — Anathema’s vocalist and guitarist, and Danny’s younger brother by 10 months - wasn’t remotely interested in what anyone else had to say. He knew the band had produced their best album yet, one that was simultaneously epic and intimate, tumultuous and cathartic.

That’s as perfect a snapshot of the relationship at the heart of Anathema as you’ll get. Danny is Anathema’s emotional core, a man who wears his heart on his sleeve and gives the band the personal edge that many of their peers lack. Vinnie is the one who helps make those emotions real, the pragmatist who keeps things anchored, who holds things together when they threaten to fly apart (and they have threatened to fly apart more than once over the years).

It’s a combination that has worked for them. The Optimist isn’t just the best album in a career that has been marked with great records, but it’s also one of the best albums of the year 2017.

But their journey hasn’t been without its trials. There have been periods of personal and professional darkness, when it looked like they weren’t going to make it through. The Optimist itself was born of a troubled time in Danny Cavanagh’s life, though like the character at the center of the record, both he and Anathema have emerged stronger and better.

 The album was released on 9 June 2017, through Kscope, and it follows the concept of the band's 2001 release A Fine Day to Exit.