Yeah, with the whole Silent Enigma thing, it was an album that I'd missed out on when it originally came out. I'd been into them when they first came out and put out Crestfallen and Serenades, but I sort of lost interest after that, and didnt come back to listening to them at all until the late nineties or so. Everyone kept raving about how "mandatory" it was to listen to Silent Enigma, and especially after I started seeing us being compared to that album, I gave it a listen. I pretty much can't stand it lol I just think the playing is fair and the vocals are awful, and I just don't think it stands up to what the band have become nowadays. I know this seems to go against what most "true" doom or Anathema fans think, but frankly, I couldn't give a shit.
I didn't really start appreciating Katatonia until Brave Murder Day, which is probably typical of alot of people I'm sure. I later went back and got the earlier releases and I like them as well now. I've always been aware of the Katatonia influence in your writing, Eric, and in our material in general, and it never bothered me at all, I quite liked it haha
I think there's always been this misconception that because we're Novembers Doom, we most likely sit around listening to doom and death/doom alot, which is actually about as far from truth as can be. It's not that I dislike it, I quite enjoy certain bands and albums, but in general it's just not really my thing, and I think that pretty much goes for everyone else in the band too. Paul probably appreciates the really heavy doom stuff most of all, but even his tastes are much more broad and expansive than that, and I don't think he listens to much of it generally these days. I guess we're just not "true", LOL.