He has mentioned that Dire Straits and in particular Mark Knopfler were his first musical influences, and along with Queen were responsible for leading the young Cavanagh towards learning guitar.

The seed was cemented in 1985 with the Live Aid concert and this is an event that Cavanagh still mentions as being what he regards one of the finest moments in the history of music and of mankind.

During his teenage years, Cavanagh discovered Iron Maiden who alongside bands like Metallica, Celtic Frost, Slayer, Bolt Thrower and later Paradise Lost, was a major influence in his interest in extreme metal.

Drummer John Douglas left the band for a short time ahead of the recording and release of Alternative 4; he was replaced by Shaun Steels, formerly of Solstice and later of My Dying Bride.

Apart from Vincent Cavanagh's vocals, Lee Douglas, younger sister of drummer John, made her debut appearance on the album and was eventually installed as a member of the band.

The resulting album was almost entirely composed by Daniel (with smaller contributions from the rest of the band) marking the end of a traumatic episode in his personal life.

Anathema took massive steps towards becoming a professional live act during the seven years between albums with high-profile tours supporting HIM and Porcupine Tree expanding their fanbase.

Cavanagh began to preview some new Anathema material during his solo shows, which led the band to record and release demo versions of future album songs for free on their official site.

In late 2008, Anathema's new label K-Scope released a collection of old songs re-recorded in semi acoustic fashion with one new track "Tales of the Unexpected" included.

It led, indirectly, to Cavanagh meeting Christer-André Cederberg who produced Anathema's last two studio albums and guided the band into previously unheralded realms of mainstream success, not least with the song "Anathema" (from 'Distant Satellites') winning Anthem of the Year at the 2014 Prog Awards, as voted for by the readers of Classic Rock's Prog Magazine.

In 2004, Cavanagh released 'A Place to Be' on Strangelight Records (run by ex-Anathema bassist Duncan Patterson) which featured him covering a collection of Nick Drake songs.

In 2013, he collaborated with Joseph Geraci, whose discussions of his own near-death experience had been sampled for the Anathema track "Internal Landscapes" from the Weather Systems album in 2012.