Band:	Anacrusis
Album:	Screams And Whispers
Style:	Progressive thrash metal
Release date:	May 11, 1993
Guest review by:	qlacs

01. Sound The Alarm
02. Sense Of Will
03. Too Many Prophets
04. Release
05. Division
06. Tools Of Separation
07. Grateful
08. A Screaming Breath
09. My Soul's Affliction
10. Driven
11. Brotherhood?
12. Release [remix]

Even like 3 years after my first listening "session" with this piece, I can't really measure how much I really like it. Once I retrieve it from the magic box of mine I spend days only spinning these eleven songs, then it takes like half a year to even touch it again. I know many people have the same thing with certain music but for me it's only like 2-3 bands. What I can tell though right at the beginning of this is that it's one of the most important progressive thrash metal release ever since it hit the stores.

Anacrusis, from US, was less popular during its existence in its own country than in Europe, which if I remember correctly was a major issue for a couple of other big names as well (Psychotic Waltz anyone?). I guess that's what kept them motivated to evolve from pure aggressive thrash (the debut Suffering Hour) through a bit of experimenting (Reason) to more complex and inspired music (Manic Impressions and this). Sadly, it didn't work out for them enough to keep it running, but talking about the what they have put down on the table we can be very grateful for that few years. None of the albums were actually bad or anything but for some reason they couldn't come to the surface.

The signature sound of Screams And Whispers is created by a lot of contrast with clean guitar passages and some symphonic cuts between really heavy riffs that you would expect from Pantera (R.I.P. Dime). With this they really made the album quite the standout of this sub-genre. The same quality was reflected lyrically; writing about personal tensions, deep meaning of emotions, paradoxes, lack of people's faith and convergence, questioning values and whether they are real or not. On a similar note I can only mention Cyclone Temple's debut album, The Beyond from the UK and couple of other bands that are more grunge than thrash metal.

Finally, a small drawback after all: for me the only problem of Screams And Whispers is that not all the songs are really that good, sometimes if I'm totally out of the mood at some songs I feel like listening to a bunch of meaningless riffs packed after each one other.

Personal favourites (and recommendations for those who want to grip the feeling of it): "Sound The Alarm", "Grateful", "Brotherhood", "My Soul's Affliction".

P.S.: Good news are that the band is active again and recording new material. Get prepared!