For the greatest part the contemporary gothic public doesn’t seem to know what their roots are. Due to the present electronic domination in the genre the relation with the punk background seems to be lost. Antiworld plays music that goes back to these roots of gothic music. Their style is proto-gothic in the tradition of horrorpunk/post-punk/deathrock acts like The Damned and Alien Sex Fiend. The music they play goes back to times before bands like Bauhaus and Siouxsie began to play their dark version of punkrock.
Antiworld’s first cd Collection was more or less a compilation with older material. The songs on this disc are high quality up-tempo spooky punk
anthems. Tracks like ‘Them’ and ‘Banshee’ are classic pieces of proto-gothic music. The Horror Of It All is the first true album by the group. The sound hasn’t changed much although the songs are better produced and worked out. Again songs like ‘Tall Man’, ‘The Spider’ and ‘Phantom’ are excellent examples of how gothic music began.
Next to a nice history lesson The Horror Of It All is just a great album. Thanks to this band and other acts like Screams For Tina, Kiss The Blade and
Ikon there is still hope and good music to listen to for fans of authentic gothic music.
