With this album  Anathema have confirmed and strengthened their absolute musical value  in terms of melody and emotional sound from year to year and from album to album. "Distant satellites" has the drawback to repeat for the third consecutive album the same structure and sequence composition but it always maintains his emotional contribution. The highly successful suite in 3 parts "Untouchable" is here replaced by "The Lost Song", with the same convincing vocal contributions of Lee Douglas that gives "anathemic" chills in part 2! "Ariel" is a lovely vocal duet between Lee and Vincent Cavanagh with a little 'folk' taste. "Anathema" seems to be their worthy and summary musical manifesto, obsessive and relentless till a dominant first electric guitar which usually "lies behind the scenes." This time the hard rhythms are more vibrant thanks also to the versatile Daniel Cardoso's contribution. "You are not alone" seems to wink to Radiohead and "Firelight" introduces the most successful and engaging piece with an floydian organ, which is the title track. "Distant Satellites" is an atmospheric, relentless, haunting and hypnotic, built on a solid and slightly electronic rhythmic base.
Best tracks: "Distant satellites," "The lost song part 2", "Anathema".  7/10