Of all the bands that form the ambient metal genre today, Anathema remains one of the most underrated. The music in the album starts off slowly and gracefully with Sentient, an instrumental showcasing Anathema's classical influences, and moves on to heavier/doomier music that introduces Vincent Cavanagh's urgent vocals. Eternity could well be Anathema's breakthrough album in America, as I think some of the songs would go over very well with the mainstream given the rising popularity of gothic rock. However, it does represent a marked departure from their early death/doom metal efforts, even though the direction they have taken is an extremely positive one. While the music is a bit lighter (and somewhat reminscent of My Dying Bride), Cavanagh's vocals have definitely improved and the album contains some of the best guitar work I've heard by this band. The three parts of the title track I think are classics in their own right, as is the David Gilmour/Roy Harper cover Hope. Those tracks alone make the album worth having in your collection.