Retro-review: ‘Screams and Whispers’ by Anacrusis

I was wrong when I said in an earlier review that I put Anacrusis’ 1993 album Screams and Whispers aside and never bothered to listen to it much over the years.

I realized I was wrong when I listened to it again and recognized the majority of the songs as they played. Then it occurred to me that I had set it aside, but always kept it within arm’s reach. When I sat and listened to it for this review, I became ashamed of myself, dismissing what is a really good album.

I’m honestly pretty surprised that this album didn’t gain more attention at the time. I’m not sure why that was. It garnered plenty of positive reviews from the metal press and got airtime on Headbangers Ball, which usually leads to some degree of popularity.

It’s silly to say, but it may be the fact that nothing Anacrusis did visually really seemed to match the music. The art for the album wasn’t eye-catching, being little more than a blurred collage photo. Maybe it was the band’s logo because it was just really generic.

And don’t get my started on how underwhelming their video for “Sound the Alarm” was.

I think maybe they were a great band with lousy promotion. I know the music should overcome everything, but bad visual elements can become distracting. I actually think the band might have been…