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ANTIMATTER
"Lights Out" CD
(TEO38) The End
After the succesful release of "Saviour",
Antimatter return with a hauntingly beautiful sophomore album. Duncan
Patterson (ex. Anathema) and Mick Moss continue their musical explorations
and once again manage to build delicate sounds of dark melancholia
by mixing electronic, ambient and dark rock. The album was recorded
in Ireland and while Mick does the majority of the singing (coming
out as a more haunting version of Roger Waters), they have again utilized
the graceful performances of Hayley Windsor and Michelle Richfield
adding extra layers of passionate melodies to an already rich sound.
Jamie Cavanagh (bass player of Anathema) also played percussion and
was assistant engineer.
13.25$ U.S. |
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ANTIMATTER
"Planetary Confinement" CD
(TEO59) The End
The saddest album of the year. Antimatter moves
toward richer, more organic textures with ‘Planetary Confinement’.
Forsaking the electronic elements found on ‘Saviour’ and
‘Lights Out’, natural string, piano and drum sounds form
the foundation, with beautiful melancholy vocalizations provided by
male and female vocalists. Recorded in two sessions, one in Ireland
directed by Duncan Patterson (ex-Anathema), the other in England by
Mick Moss. Features a contemplative, morose and quite liberal interpretation
of Trouble’s “Mr. White”. For fans of Portishead,
Massive Attack, Pink Floyd and anyone that feels the weight on the
world on their shoulders.
13.25$ U.S. |
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ARCTURUS
"The
Sham Mirrors" CD
(TEO26) The End
Honored sonic surrealists Arcturus lay down
before you their latest work, "The Sham Mirrors." In a time
when the terms "avant-garde" and "progressive"
are thrown around too loosely in the metal lexicon, "The Sham
Mirrors" arrives to defy such easy tags. It explodes like a supernova
throughout its 43-minute duration; it lays another mighty brick in
the tower these explorers have been building since 1991... The new
album remains metal at its core while dragging the genre through endless
tunnels of light, color and sound that it has never before seen. The
Trickster Garm showcases his previously-unexplored falsetto range;
Hellhammer offers a percussive display that teeters between the organic
and the inhuman; Sverd's keys pepper the spaces with masterful confidence.
In a perfect world (far from the one we inhabit), lead-off track "Kinetic"
would be a global hit single. Six songs later, the album closes with
the cosmic 10-and-a-half minute opus, "For to End Yet Again,"
itself alone worthy of a lifetime of inspection. Note for note, song
for song, "The Sham Mirrors" is likely Arcturus's grand
achievement, pulling together various facets of their previous releases
and molding it into a bold new shape.
13.25$ U.S. |
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