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Trollheart · 01-16-2012, 05:33 AM

Planetary confinement --- Antimatter --- 2005 (Prophecy)

A solo project orginally put together by Mick Moss, Antimatter became a duo, with the addition of Anathema's Duncan Patterson for three albums, after which he left, leaving Moss to continue on his own. Their musical style changed over the course of three albums, with the sound more or less coalescing in this, their third album. The picture on the sleeve tells the story of the music, almost a physical motif for or representation of what you will find inside. Two strands of barbed wire cut a grey, dark, sullen skyline: loneliness, despair, isolation and pain are what you'll encounter on this album, but it's played and composed so perfectly and in such a fragile way that you can't help but be drawn to it.

It opens on solo piano, for a very short instrumental which forms the title track, then “The weight of the world” is another acoustic number, but this time with vocals from Moss. Very laidback, very melancholic, good clear vocals from Moss, very atmospheric as he asks ”Am I the only one/ Crushed by the weight of the world?” Halfway through the song becomes a bit more fleshed out, with drums and lovely mournful violin from Rachel Brewster. An odd situation: of the nine tracks on this album, they seem to be split down the middle both in terms of songwriting and of performance. Moss claims four, Patterson the other four, and the remaining song is a cover of Trouble's "Mr. White". They don't appear, from what I can see, to play on or get involved with each other's music, so that the album seems to come across as essentially two solo projects on one album.

Nice change in vocals then with a female voice from Amelie Festa for “Line of fire”, one of Patterson's compositions, another eerie acoustic song, with nice piano and echoey guitar. A recurring line of low, sparkling keyboard underpins the song, adding another dimension to its already somewhat downbeat tone, and djembe drums from Alex Mazarguil just set the whole thing off perfectly. Next up is another of Moss's efforts, with Brewster's soft violins bringing “Epitaph” in on a sad wail, counterpointed by Moss's acoustic guitar and little if any percussion.

It doesn't seem to be an album you listen to to cheer you up; it's quite morose, slow and dark, and each of the singers have their own take on the somewhat nihilistic timbre of the songs, each bringing his own particular vision to the project. It's hard to say who's better, and perhaps more fair to say that each have their own approach to the songs, and that neither supercedes the other. It's certainly stark, stripped-down and basic, but just about every song seems to work.

The violin is again heavily featured in the cover of Trouble's “Mr. White”, with doomy bass and piano, and vocals this time again taken by Festa, and a very good job she does with it too. Then it's back to Moss for another of his contributions, “Portrait of the young man as an artist”, with more solid acoustic guitar and slightly more forceful vocals, which he takes himself, a lot of simmering anger and outrage it would seem in the lyric as he berates a rising star and asks him ”What's real about this story?/ What's real about this picture?” --- quite possibly meant to be himself asking himself, I guess, challenging his own talent or his own perception of it. Hard to say. But a very decent song.

“Relapse”, then, is another from Patterson's songbook, opening on eerie keyboard, slowly joined by acoustic guitar which fades in, then organ takes the melody as Amelie Festa again sings the vocal, the guitar taking on a certain “Stairway to Heaven” tune with flute-like keyboards from Mehdi Messouci, and the organ sound permeating the whole thing like a funeral dirge. If there's such a thing as acoustic doom metal (and there probably is) then this would be what I would expect it would sound like. Stripped of electric guitars, roared or screamed vocals and with hardly any percussion at all, this could be the very essence of dark music distilled right down to its basic components. Musical melancholy in a jar?

“Legions” is the last song on the album by Michael Moss, and one of the longer ones, though not the longest, not yet. Joined here on vocals by Sue Marshall, Moss does a fine job painting his own dark vision of the world, as he sings ”Stony and grey is the whore/ And long are the days in the morgue/ Where God is a wall/ Where God is a wall to look upon.” The acoustic guitar gets quite intense on this song, as I say, Moss's last on the album, and Rachel Brewster's violin thrusts and parries with his melody as the song winds on, possibly the most solid drumming on this track that appears all through the album, almost, but not quite, lifting “Legions” out of the confines of acousticity.

The longest track has been saved for last. I'm no fan of Anathema, but I believe “Eternity part 24” is a direct continuation of parts 1-3, which appear on their album “Eternity”. It opens with a long acoustic guitar intro quite reminiscent to me of Mostly Autumn, of all bands, then the keyboards take the melody in a long, held chord while another keyboard line keeps countermelody beneath it, keeping pace as the music moves along in almost celestial majesty. An eight, almost nine-minute instrumental to close an album is a bold move, but then, from what has gone before it seems obvious that Antimatter did not concern themselves too much with what would sell, or please others. This is purely introspective, personal music, written by and for Moss and Patterson, and if others enjoy it that's a plus. If not, I doubt they're worried.

This is my first encounter with this type of music, and I don't know what I'd term it: ambient doom metal? Gothic ballads? Acoustic black depressive? Whatever the label --- if it falls under one --- the lyrics really are secondary to the simplicity and yet beauty of the music. With a stark, raw production and very little instrumentation, Antimatter have perhaps managed to define and capture what is intrinsic to the very best music, that it doesn't all have to be pristine production, multi-tracked vocals and orchestral backing to make some of, truly, the most amazing and impressive, deep and moving music I have heard in a very long time.

TRACKLISTING

1. Planetary confinement
2. The weight of the world
3. Line of fire
4. Epitaph
5. Mr. White
6. A portrait of the young man as an artist
7. Relapse
8. Legions
9. Eternity, part 24

01-16-2012, 05:33 AM	#735 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Planetary confinement --- Antimatter --- 2005 (Prophecy) A solo project orginally put together by Mick Moss, Antimatter became a duo, with the addition of Anathema's Duncan Patterson for three albums, after which he left, leaving Moss to continue on his own. Their musical style changed over the course of three albums, with the sound more or less coalescing in this, their third album. The picture on the sleeve tells the story of the music, almost a physical motif for or representation of what you will find inside. Two strands of barbed wire cut a grey, dark, sullen skyline: loneliness, despair, isolation and pain are what you'll encounter on this album, but it's played and composed so perfectly and in such a fragile way that you can't help but be drawn to it. It opens on solo piano, for a very short instrumental which forms the title track, then “The weight of the world” is another acoustic number, but this time with vocals from Moss. Very laidback, very melancholic, good clear vocals from Moss, very atmospheric as he asks ”Am I the only one/ Crushed by the weight of the world?” Halfway through the song becomes a bit more fleshed out, with drums and lovely mournful violin from Rachel Brewster. An odd situation: of the nine tracks on this album, they seem to be split down the middle both in terms of songwriting and of performance. Moss claims four, Patterson the other four, and the remaining song is a cover of Trouble's "Mr. White". They don't appear, from what I can see, to play on or get involved with each other's music, so that the album seems to come across as essentially two solo projects on one album. Nice change in vocals then with a female voice from Amelie Festa for “Line of fire”, one of Patterson's compositions, another eerie acoustic song, with nice piano and echoey guitar. A recurring line of low, sparkling keyboard underpins the song, adding another dimension to its already somewhat downbeat tone, and djembe drums from Alex Mazarguil just set the whole thing off perfectly. Next up is another of Moss's efforts, with Brewster's soft violins bringing “Epitaph” in on a sad wail, counterpointed by Moss's acoustic guitar and little if any percussion. It doesn't seem to be an album you listen to to cheer you up; it's quite morose, slow and dark, and each of the singers have their own take on the somewhat nihilistic timbre of the songs, each bringing his own particular vision to the project. It's hard to say who's better, and perhaps more fair to say that each have their own approach to the songs, and that neither supercedes the other. It's certainly stark, stripped-down and basic, but just about every song seems to work. The violin is again heavily featured in the cover of Trouble's “Mr. White”, with doomy bass and piano, and vocals this time again taken by Festa, and a very good job she does with it too. Then it's back to Moss for another of his contributions, “Portrait of the young man as an artist”, with more solid acoustic guitar and slightly more forceful vocals, which he takes himself, a lot of simmering anger and outrage it would seem in the lyric as he berates a rising star and asks him ”What's real about this story?/ What's real about this picture?” --- quite possibly meant to be himself asking himself, I guess, challenging his own talent or his own perception of it. Hard to say. But a very decent song. “Relapse”, then, is another from Patterson's songbook, opening on eerie keyboard, slowly joined by acoustic guitar which fades in, then organ takes the melody as Amelie Festa again sings the vocal, the guitar taking on a certain “Stairway to Heaven” tune with flute-like keyboards from Mehdi Messouci, and the organ sound permeating the whole thing like a funeral dirge. If there's such a thing as acoustic doom metal (and there probably is) then this would be what I would expect it would sound like. Stripped of electric guitars, roared or screamed vocals and with hardly any percussion at all, this could be the very essence of dark music distilled right down to its basic components. Musical melancholy in a jar? “Legions” is the last song on the album by Michael Moss, and one of the longer ones, though not the longest, not yet. Joined here on vocals by Sue Marshall, Moss does a fine job painting his own dark vision of the world, as he sings ”Stony and grey is the whore/ And long are the days in the morgue/ Where God is a wall/ Where God is a wall to look upon.” The acoustic guitar gets quite intense on this song, as I say, Moss's last on the album, and Rachel Brewster's violin thrusts and parries with his melody as the song winds on, possibly the most solid drumming on this track that appears all through the album, almost, but not quite, lifting “Legions” out of the confines of acousticity. The longest track has been saved for last. I'm no fan of Anathema, but I believe “Eternity part 24” is a direct continuation of parts 1-3, which appear on their album “Eternity”. It opens with a long acoustic guitar intro quite reminiscent to me of Mostly Autumn, of all bands, then the keyboards take the melody in a long, held chord while another keyboard line keeps countermelody beneath it, keeping pace as the music moves along in almost celestial majesty. An eight, almost nine-minute instrumental to close an album is a bold move, but then, from what has gone before it seems obvious that Antimatter did not concern themselves too much with what would sell, or please others. This is purely introspective, personal music, written by and for Moss and Patterson, and if others enjoy it that's a plus. If not, I doubt they're worried. This is my first encounter with this type of music, and I don't know what I'd term it: ambient doom metal? Gothic ballads? Acoustic black depressive? Whatever the label --- if it falls under one --- the lyrics really are secondary to the simplicity and yet beauty of the music. With a stark, raw production and very little instrumentation, Antimatter have perhaps managed to define and capture what is intrinsic to the very best music, that it doesn't all have to be pristine production, multi-tracked vocals and orchestral backing to make some of, truly, the most amazing and impressive, deep and moving music I have heard in a very long time. TRACKLISTING 1. Planetary confinement 2. The weight of the world 3. Line of fire 4. Epitaph 5. Mr. White 6. A portrait of the young man as an artist 7. Relapse 8. Legions 9. Eternity, part 24 __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018