Antimatter is the new project of Duncan Patterson, ex of doom gods Anathema, along with some peers/pals/presumed studio whores. As you should know, Anathema’s mid-nineties output on Peaceville pretty much defined doom metal, bowing only to the once almighty My Dying Bride in terms of crossing melancholia with pure sludge riffuck.
Well, ol’ Dunc’s motto seems to be, “You can’t go home again, and who the hell wants to?” Antimatter is pretty much straight up gorgeous, with pure girly vocals floating on ambient fake-dub and (mostly) acoustic guitars. Nothing particularly world-changing, but the strength of the songwriting (and my sweet tooth for girly vocals) makes Saviour a keeper. The songs work best when Duncan joins guest Michelle Richfield at the mike; his counterpoint tenor keeps things from getting too fey. But the most interesting track is “God Is Coming,” on which the Antimatter-ers use all those sequencers for evil, kicking out the jams in a Gathering-meets-Lords Of Acid beatdown.
Anathema die-hards are going to shit a cow, but in a scene absolutely glutted with warmed-over ideas (The Dreadful Hours, anyone?) Patterson and friends are at least to be credited with trying something new. Just keep those harder beats (and those girly vocals) coming.
