The UK’s ANATHEMA have entered Parkgate Studio in their native country to record their long awaited follow-up to 2001’s A Fine Day to Exit. Guitarist Danny Cavanagh posted the following report on the band’s official website:

“Things are going very well here. For the fist time in a while, we [have] recorded live together. Drums, bass, guitars and even vocals on a few songs. The sounds we have got going are very powerful. We aim to keep things simple on this album, maximising the tones that we have, feeling that its not neccesarry to stack lots of elements together to create a big sound. The songs themselves lend themselves to this simplified approach, being uncomplicated songs that get to the heart of the matter without having to go round the block to get there, if you see what I mean.

“It’s fair to say you can expect a variety of songs and soundscapes on this one, from peaceful and ambient tones, to sonically massive great noises that we are barely able to control.

“There is a very cooperative and productive atmosphere between us, setting all our targets on a common goal of making a good album without ever compromising integrity, and without ever ‘over doing’ it.

“The production side of things is being handled by us, with the engineer Dan Turner doing a great job of organising and recording what we do. We seem to understand what needs to be done and how to do it, and to that effect I can only say that if all goes to plan then this will be a good album that we can be proud to put our names to.”

The as-yet-untitled album will likely see a late 2003/early 2004 release.