"Planetary Confinement" is the last album of Antimatter with Duncan Patterson, and indeed, he recorded the tracks away from the band. The work is divided into two sessions, one recorded in Ireland by Duncan and another in England by Mick. The two equally share the number of songs to record; Patterson brings Amélie Festa with him to record the tracks, while Stephen Hughes replaces the former Anathema member in Mick's sessions, but regardless of these "technical" details, the CD is a gem and Duncan couldn't have given a better farewell.

A sublime album from the first to the last track. It alternates between the singing of Mick Moss and the female voice of Amélie Festa, who take turns singing one track each until the end. The album has beautiful atmospheres: acoustic chords that exude emotion, simple yet beautiful piano passages, not to mention the work the violin does, with its notes transporting the listener into a sea of melancholy that seems to have no return. Everything blends perfectly into a weave of sounds and emotions. The listener is gently transported into the world of Antimatter, almost without realizing it, but from the very beginning, one breathes in an atmosphere that urges you to delve into the most hidden places within yourself. The music makes one think of a gray sky, with many raindrops falling and wetting the ground, or perhaps wetting us, with water streaming down our faces and falling from our eyes, as if it were a tear, a drop in which everyone's emotions reside, whether joy or pain...

The album begins with a brief piano intro and from there, it does not have a single moment of decline, whether you wish to be carried away by the melancholic notes of "Epitaph" and "Legions," or immerse yourself in the beautiful voice of Amélie in songs like "Mr. White" (a successful cover of Trouble) and "Relapse." The conclusion of the album, "Eternity 24" (is the title perhaps a nod to Anathema..?), is a long ambient instrumental, where the only voices are slight and confused backgrounds, a worthy conclusion to the work, which, with its slow and introspective pace, prepares the listener to exit the "journey" undertaken by listening to this album.

One of the most emotional albums I've ever listened to. I highly recommend it to every music lover, listen to it at least once.

Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos

01   Planetary Confinement (01:33)

[Patterson]

Instrumental

02   The Weight of the World (04:45)

Save me...
'Cause I'm in a sea of beings
And there's no deny -
The waves are holding me under

I'm drowning in a thousand faces
Alien expressions over and over again

I'm trying to scream, but I can't exhale
The world seems to spin as I'm left on this square
With no will to hold on
Am I the only one crushed by the weight of the world?

Save me...
I think I've swallowed more than I can comprehend
A soul laid low

A soul has lost its faith again
Wide awake in this hole
A maggot on a plate again
Wide awake in this hole
A soul has lost its faith
I've lost myself too long
Am I the only one crushed by the weight of the world?

03   Line of Fire (06:28)

Face the panic of today
Breaking barriers of yesterday
I fell into the line of fire
I broke down in the line of fire
Shattered past, and future fears
Take a moment far away from here
Cut the strings and fly away
Cut the strings and fly away
Taste the hell you put us through
Grace the heavens I could promise you
Take a hand in the line of fire
Make a stand behind the wire

04   Epitaph (04:11)

Paint me a room where I can dream
Dream of a world that I used to see
Paint me a window, soft and defined
And flood yellow light
Through the open blinds
It's somewhere, hidden from view
A portrait, an epitaph...

05   Mr White (04:07)

[Trouble]

I'm supposed to talk to you
don't even know where to start
don't want to stand with the setting sun
Tell me does it really show?

I'll promise you anything
Place your hand over your heart
don't want to fool myself anymore
Think nobody else will ever know

Mr. White up all night
Hiding in my room
Mr. White so uptight
Black shapes of doom

Could never show you how I feel
Even so I didn't care
it's only that inside
I'm so tired
So tired of being all alone

Now the hours are breathing
Gone like tears in yesterdays rain
I remember voices telling me
Secrets of mind-changing reality

Mr. White up all night
Hiding in my room
Mr. White so uptight
Black shapes of doom

Mr. White up all night
Always likes to sing
Mr. White so uptight
Even knows my name

06   A Portrait of the Young Man as an Artist (04:54)

Look at you all, clutching your guitars
As if it makes a difference to who you really are
Does the picking of a string stop the ticking of the clock?
When will this curtain fall?

How did you carve that psalm?
I'm sorry but your intellect is really not that sharp
You're drowning so you plagiarize what you wish to become
A stone masquerade so cold

What's real about this story?
What's real?

Am I safe? am I safe to be alone?
When all around are lost
Consumed by my indifference and left to count the cost
Of all the bleeding hearts who suffered you because you told them...
You told them you were someone

What's real about this story?
What's real about this picture?

07   Relapse (05:03)

Look inside and find the parts
Bringing forth the lines of sanity
A broken mind and open heart
Torn apart without lucidity
Consummate and turn the page
Embrace the change from what you used to be
Procreate and fade away
I guess it's time to face your memories
Broken spirits open fears
Darksome shades combine fragility
Frigid smiles across the miles
Guilty eyes surmise asymmetry
Relapse on both sides of the tracks
Ashing back to taste the irony
Manipulate and slip away
Embrace the shame of what you used to be
Rain washed the panic from today
Decimation of anxiety
Tribulations drift away
Pray tomorrow offers clarity
Rain washed the panic from today
Affirmation of mortality
Trivialities astray
Pray tomorrow brings stability

08   Legions (07:24)

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

Legions and hordes
The seas have been torn
And buildings remain where they fall
And I solemnly walk
Through legions and hordes
A dark mass of infidels

Long is the howl at the end
A cry from the tail echoing
And fools reverberate
And fools reverberate and carry on...

What have they done to themselves?
Look what have they done to themselves

If you don't learn to leave this thing alone
You'll never get to see the sun again
You won't come out on top
The seed is sown

09   Eternity Part 24 (08:45)

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Other reviews

By Dunkel

 "My favorite track is 'A Portrait..', an acoustic arpeggio that communicates all of its sadly restless essence."

 "The last track, 'Eternity part 24', is an end without any words, an acoustic beginning, and then a tapestry of synth and keyboards drawing a fragment of an endless journey."