News : Alternative 4: Anathema’s Duncan Patterson and The Eternal’s Mark Kelson

Due out November 15th is The Brink, the new album by former Anathema mastermind Duncan Patterson, under the new name Alternative 4. But why is that news being posted on here you say? Well because as well as Argentinian drummer Mauro Frison, the band features The Eternal’s Mark Kelson on guitar and vocals. Alternative 4 is apparently a return to the use of electric instruments and more of a rock format for the first time since quitting Anathema in 1998.

“The rhythm section and piano parts were recorded in Cherry Lane studios in the heart of the Republic of Ireland, which has arguably the best live drum room in the country. Guitars, vocals, and synths recorded at NO 13 studio, Melbourne, Australia. And additional parts were finished off at TDA Studios, Lisbon, Portugal where the album was mixed. 

Lyrically, The Brink takes a swipe at how a large proportion of people are not thinking for themselves, businessmen and general parasitic people who are like flies around shit at the smell of ‘success’, where peoples general wellbeing is taken out of the equation. Sheeple who need to be told what to think, which TV to buy, what ‘news’ to believe, what to eat, what to listen to, and put ‘celebrities’ on a pedestal without really knowing why. Patterson has documented some personal experiences with the music business and media brainwashing, obsessive ‘fans’ and the unhealthy attention that goes with it. Society is being dumbed-down at an alarming rate. Music is losing its value to a younger generation who know no better than to just follow. The front row at gigs these days is a sea of mobile camera phones, often being watched through the camera screen itself, with the owners anxious to get home to upload it onto the internet. The general sense on this album is the hope that we are on the brink of change. Or as the final lines read “This could go either way, it probably will..”. “