2000-02: Saviour
Signed to Icon Records, in September 2000 they entered Academy Studios, Dewsbury, as Antimatter to record their debut album Saviour. Patterson contributes the tracks "Holocaust", "God Is Coming", "Flowers" and "Going Nowhere", while Moss brings "Saviour", "Over Your Shoulder", "Psalms", "Angelic" and "The Last Laugh". Although Moss performed vocals on his original demos, Patterson has the idea to have mainly female vocals, performed by Michelle Richfield and Hayley Windsor. Moss performs vocals on two tracks only. Instrumentation is split between Patterson and Moss.
In 2001, the album and band received "Album of the Year" and "Best Newcomer of the Year" in Psycho! magazine. Unfortunately, Antimatter’s record label distributed only a small number of copies despite demand for much more, and it soon became apparent that the label wasn’t able to manufacture and distribute copies of the album in reasonable numbers. Thus began an 12 month battle between act and label, with Icon Records holding onto the rights of Saviour despite being unable to release it. Eventually, in 2002, Icon Records gave up and handed the rights to the recording back to the band.
In 2002, Saviour finally received a worldwide release due to the efforts of labels Prophecy Productions in Europe and The End Records in North America. A self-financed European tour followed later that year, with Antimatter joined by Patterson’s former partner from his Anathema days, Danny Cavanagh. Michelle Richfield and Hayley Windsor did not feature in the line-up, with lead vocals being taken by Mick Moss
Cavanagh would later briefly and controversially quit Anathema the same year with the intention of joining Antimatter, only to re-join Anathema weeks later.
In late 2002, Moss published via the internet the free EP A Dream For The Blind, featuring recordings of himself and Cavanagh rehearsing for that year's debut tour. The 5-track release came complete with artwork to be printed off by the public.
Read more about this topic: Antimatter (band)