Anywhen - The Opiates (2001)

The Opiates, Anywhen's second album, surfaces almost as a faultless record, a classical collection of pure and inspiring melodies delivered with elaborate instrumentation. Vocalist and songwriter Thomas Feiner springs out as the main creator in the Swedish trio, responsible for most of the disc's words and tunes. Delivering their themes inspired by alternative pop/rock's pickings and adjoining to it classical music marks, they end up drifting in composite song structures supported by beautiful and duskily inspired lyrics. "The Siren Songs," the record's opening track, clearly identifies Anywhen's poetic purpose: to create dark and moody musically crafted atmospheres which are at the same time flowing both musically and lyrically on their own simplicity. The Opiates' classical marks are better revealed through the flute and horn performances of elements of the Warsaw Radio Symphony Orchestra, on "Dinah and the Beautiful Blue," "Toy," and "Betty Caine," again subliming the disc's exquisite soundings.

Mario Mesquita Borges - All Music Guide