LIGHTS OUT

After Duncan Patterson left ANATHEMA he formed ANTIMATTER with Mick Moss.They both share in the vocals, keyboards, bass, programming, guitar and lyrics. Duncan was with ANATHEMA from the beginning and left after "Alternative 4". He does get some help on percussion from Jamie Cavanagh who would eventually go on to play in ANATHEMA with his two brothers. The music here is laid back, atmospheric, dark and melancholic. I really like the mood here, and there are both male and female vocals.

"Lights Out" opens with these sirens that go on for a while then it settles with lots of atmosphere. Sparse keys here too before the male fragile vocals join in after 1 1/2 minutes. Acoustic guitar comes in as the atmosphere disolves. It's back though before 3 minutes with sparse keys,faint female vocals,acoustic guitar and electronics. Great tune. "Everything You Know Is Wrong" opens with keys as reserved male vocals join in. A nice rich sound before a minute as it gets fuller. Contrasts continue. Spacey synths are prominant late. "The Art Of A Soft Landing" opens with atmosphere as sounds come and go. Female vocals before a minute. Synths after 1 1/2 minutes. Drums become prominant as male vocals help out. It kicks in at 3 minutes with the electric guitar making some noise. Great sound ! Piano only a minute later.

"Expire" opens with piano that sounds like it's being played in someone's cold, dark basement. Percussion, bass, keys and synths follow. This is good. Female vocals join in as well. After 4 minutes she keeps saying "I've a solution, final solution" over and over with piano, percussion and atmosphere right to the end. "In Stone" opens with piano, percussion and keys. Male vocals join in and acoustic guitar as well. It kicks in after 2 minutes. Settles again around 3 minutes as vocals stop and atmosphere rolls in. Piano is slowly played then these spoken words come in. It picks up again after 5 1/2 minutes. Nice bass too. "Reality Clash" opens with almost whispered words and synths. Drums and bass after 2 1/2 minutes and male vocals join in. A calm a minute later. "Dream" has more energy but it's still mid-paced as piano, bass, drums and atmosphere dominate. Female vocals arrive as it settles. Contrasts continue between the fuller sections and mellow passages. Lots of synths and percussion late. "Terminal" is the closing instrumental. Laid back with acoustic guitar to start. Piano and atmosphere follows. Powerful sounds start to come and go before 4 minutes. It settles late to end it.

I like this style of music. It's a nice change once in a while to veg out to with headphones on.

After the gothic trip hop debut, Duncan Patterson and Michael Moss returned with a more organic sounding album. The hand from trip hop can still be felt, but it is a dark and looming hand, casting a sombre and colourless blanket over the mood.

The great thing about it is that it doesn't need any of the overtly dramatic or pathetic tricks that goth rock often resorts to. The sound is mostly sparse, featuring soft warm vocals and some moody piano, acoustic guitars and modest rhythms. The vocals duties are split between the male and female vocalists. The female vocals are excellent and Moss has a modest but touching voice that is slightly similar to other cheery vocalists such as Kevin Moore and the Cavanagh brothers from Anathema.

An album with sparse musical arrangements as this one has to go on the intensity of its mood and the qualities of the song writing. Unfortunately, the mood can get a bit monotonous after a while, all songs are a bit too similar and not all of them manage to appeal to me equally. The album highlights are Everything You Know, Expire and Dream.

Fans of Anathema who haven't checked out this band yet must sure give them a try, but I doubt they have the potential to win over anybody else. Still, if you're in need for a decent album with nice moody rock songs, this might be the one. 3.5 stars.

Lights Out is the sophomore album by Antimatter, the band put together by Mick Moss and former Anathema bass player Duncan Patterson when he left the Liverpudlian band in 1998. Released in 2003, only two years after the debut LP Saviour, Lights Out explores similar soundscapes, mixing acoustic dark rock, moody electronic beats, and a dash of prog rock (Pink Floyd; Roger Waters), especially in the use of spacey synths and keyboards. There are occasional bursts of heavy distortion, but the metal influences are generally kept to a minimum. Vocal duties are again shared between Moss and female guest singers Michelle Richfield and Hayley Windsor, who had also sang on the debut LP. The minimally arranged and sparsely textured music offer a desolate backdrop to the singers' emotional yet hallucinated performances, leaving a lasting impression on the listener. Moss's performance is particularly haunting, showing remarkable progress in depth and tone compared to the debut album.

Songwriting duties are once again shared between Patterson and Moss, although Lights Out feels slightly more collaborative and cohesive compared to Saviour, almost as if each musician made an effort to write tunes in a style that would better fit with the other. Moss in particular seems eager to adapt his peculiar singer-songwriter style to the hallucinated musicality of his bandmate, crossing the border between melancholic acoustic rock and dark electronica in tracks like "The Art of Soft Landing" and "Dream". Patterson, on the other hand, continues to churn out the same obsessive Alternative-4 themes that had copiously emerged on Saviour, playing with piano loops, trip-hop rhythms, electronic noises and whispered vocals (check out the cameo in "Reality Clash" of the iconic piano motif from Alternative 4's "Destiny").

Another notable difference compared to Saviour lies in the warmer and more nuanced production. There is a lot of bass and deep tones on Lights Out, enveloping the listener and creating an atmosphere that is less menacing and more relaxing (and occasionally spacey, like on "Everything You Know Is Wrong") compared to the debut album.

For a sophomore album, Lights Out delivers in spades, guaranteeing 50 minutes of high-quality dark and atmospheric rock that will surely appeal to fans of the debut LP as well as Anathema and similarly moody post-metal acts. The record is perhaps somewhat less explosive than Antimatter's debut, as it lacks that handful of killer songs that immediately stand out with strong melodies and catchy vocals, like "The Last Laugh" or "Over Your Shoulder" from Saviour. Of the eight songs included here, "Expire" is perhaps the one that makes the stronger immediate impression, with its trip-hop influences interlaced with bursts of synths, while Richfield's desolate, slightly echoey vocals repeat obsessively for over two minutes the ominous line "I have a solution, a final solution". While not as hauntingly captivating, the remaining tracks offer an introspective journey into the dark musicality of one of the most fascinating bands to come out of the UK.