ANTIPHON

This was a suggestion from a friend of mine who used to work at a record store. Although he played me a couple of songs from The Courage of Others, I ended up buying this one. I usually don't listen to this kind of music, but this is an album I keep spinning from time to time when I am in the mood for something atmospheric. The title-track that kicks the album off has some interesting orchestrations at the background, nice vocal melodies and an imposing atmosphere. Now it isn't far-fetched at all to say that this is pretty much the recipe for the entire album which doesn't exactly claim to be diverse and multi-facet. As a result, it depends on the inspiration they had on each song. Some are better, or, should I say some sound nicer to my ears than others not because they are differently crafted, but simply because their melodies appeal to me more. Consequently, side A flows better (where the instrumental Vale somehow differentiates from its mates and The Old and the Young is my absolute favourite). Then I'm not sure what happens, perhaps the music becomes too self-referential and wears me a bit out. Same tempo, same motifs, absolutely no surprises, they somehow play safe. Occasionaly I notice some interesting orchestrations way back in the mix like on Ages and to my taste they could be more audible like the violin on the reprise of Provider. The main goal of the band is to create atmosphere primarily with keyboard sounds and secondarily with electric and acoustic guitars. Mind you, melodic passages played by the guitar are nowhere here if you are fans of this.

All in all, it's not an album I regretted that I bought. Surely it doesn't rank among my favourite ones, but I when I want to zone out it is always among my choices.