Review: The Anchoret – It All Began With Loneliness

Style: Prog Metal, Death Metal (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Opeth, Caligula’s Horse, Pain of Salvation, King Crimson, Disillusion
Review by: Sam
Country: Canada
Release date: 23 June, 2023

Getting promos is often a double edged sword. What makes it nice is that you can listen to and gush about great albums before everyone else can, but at the same time that early access can be frustrating because you can’t share the cool music you have been listening to. The Anchoret right here thought it was ok to send us their promo more than two months in advance for this album. If it had been a shit album, okay, I can deal with that. But this, this is some fine gourmet shit. Where did these guys come from? How are they so competent? WHERE IS MY LAWYER?! 

Most of the time when you find an underground prog band, you get a diamond in the rough experience. They have a couple of things down really well, or have a few banger songs, but then high levels of inconsistency and/or shoddy production jobs often bring it down. But every once in a while you find a band that, simply put, just has their shit together. The Anchoret is that band. It’s made up of a bunch of experienced musicians: Andy Tillison (The Tangent), James Christopher Knoerl (Aviations, Gargoyl) and Sylvain Auclair (Heaven’s Cry, Karcius), but still, this is simply that band. 

It All Began With Loneliness is a very colorful album that takes many different influences and molds it into something new, yet familiar. They take much after the jazzier side of 70s prog rock (King Crimson primarily), but modernized it and beefed it up with delicious riffs. It sits in a pretty similar space to modern Opeth in that regard, but then metal. Generally there is little repetition of sections, opting for a more adventurous style of composing, and generally what repetition is there is modulated in some way. For instance, in de-facto opener “A Dead Man” the opening riff melody recurs later under a chorus, and in “Until the Sun Illuminates” the keyboard melody at 0:57 becomes a backing riff for the guitar solo at 3:30. The song development on IABWL is delightfully subtle and intricate, which is rarer than one might expect in this genre, ironically many bands still adhere tightly to a verse-chorus structure. Such a compositional style is hard to pull off for it can quickly become a mess, but The Anchoret manage to pull it off. 

The playing ability of this band is also nuts. You hardly notice just how many times they switch up things because of how smooth they transition between parts. They’ll be at high intensity blasting away, and then segue out of it into a midtempo release with a clarinet and big open chords all while keeping the blast beat speed as they perform intricate fills out of it. Oh and yes, there is a clarinet… and a flute… and a saxophone. They’re not performed by full time band members, but every song has some guest contribution, mostly in a supplementary role to add texture and extra melody. Lead single “Forsaken” is a stand-out in this regard with its crying saxophone. It’s a great track in general with amazing hard-soft dynamics and an intense tribal section at the end, and the aforementioned guest spots elevate it harmonically and emotionally. They made a good choice making that the lead single because it’s very representative of the band and what they’re capable of.

I almost forgot to talk about the band’s full time members there, but yeah, they’re nuts. I’m especially amazed by the drummer’s versatility and he stands out in pretty much whatever he does. His grooves are as intricate as they are tasteful, and the rest of the rhythm section plays along seamlessly. The riffs supplementing the rhythms are just as consistently engaging and interesting. They strike a difficult balance between heaviness, technicality, and melody that has something for every type of prog fan. It’s a lot like Opeth’s not-quite-death-metal-but-not-not-death-metal level of intensity, but more proggy and modern. Keyboard wise, the 70s influences of The Anchoret come most to the forefront as the warm sound palette feels very retro and they whip out the organ a couple of times for the solos, which is something I have a weakness for.

At this point, I don’t think it comes as a surprise to you that I shouted ALBUM OF THE YEAR, DECADE, EVER, AAAAAAAA to every single writer on my team as I unpacked the promo for this. Yet, as time went on, I found myself strangely not compelled to revisit. Somehow, the emotional connection is lacking. I think the cause is twofold: one is that – for as good as the instrumentation is – the vocals are pretty meek. They’re pleasant, but they lack presence and even get lost in the mix because of this. And second is the songwriting style. It’s not that their through-composing is a mess, but it lacks hooks and instantaneous emotional connection. I get the same feeling that I often get when listening to jazz or classical music: I can understand the emotion they’re going for, but I don’t feel it and it stays at a distance. This ties into complaint no 1 as there are rarely any good vocal hooks as the delivery can be poignant to a fault. Not that this band needs to go full verse-chorus mode or anything, but something like Disillusion can be a good middle ground. Maybe jazz fanatics will see more in these songs than I do, but I definitely noticed the album turning into a bit of a blur in my mind. 

All things considered, It All Began With Loneliness is a pretty stellar album. This is one of those rare albums that I can see having universal appeal among prog metal fans. It’s heavy enough to appeal to the extreme prog fanatics, but it’s melodic and proggy enough to please everyone else. I’m allowed to be a little cheeky, I’d say The Anchoret is the Opeth replacement for those who don’t like harsh vocals, but they’re really their own band. It can be a hard album to sink your teeth into due to a lack of hooks, but the sheer intricacy with which everything is composed and the band’s technical ability alone make this a standout endeavor. How this is a debut, is beyond me. The Anchoret is a band to watch out for, and I could easily see them explode in the scene sooner rather than later.

Recommended tracks: Until the Sun Illuminates, Forsaken, All Turns to Clay (also all of them)
You may also like: Obsidian Tide, Luna’s Call, Altesia, Bend the Future, Dissona
Final verdict: 8/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | RYM page

Label: Willowtip – Bandcamp | Facebook | Website

The Anchoret is:
– Sylvain Auclair (vocals)
– Leo Estalles (guitars)
– Eduard Levitsky (bass)
– James Christopher Knoerl (drums)
– Andy Tillison (keyboard, synthesizers)