Absolutely DEVESTATING new album from French deathdoom lords Ataraxie! Their last album on Weird Truth, Slow Transcending Agony, flew out of here in a flash when we listed it earlier this year and we sold out of it almost immediately. From what I've noticed, it looks like Ataraxie are becoming pretty popular in the death/doom field. It's not surprising, 'cuz Ataraxie are one of the heaviest, catchiest deathdoom bands that I've been listening to lately. Their music is clearly descended from the classic deathdoom pioneers like Disembowelment, Thergothon, Evoken, Winter, and early My Dying Bride, with long, epic songs of crushing downtuned death metal guitars sluggishly grinding over thundering drums, soaring lead guitars that etch these amazing emotional melodies into Ataraxie's overcast skies, and best of all, darkly majestic riffs that are catchier than you might expect. And there are sudden unpredictable bursts of speed where the band lurches into blastbeating death metal that appear throughout the album that remind me a lot of seminal deathdoomers Disembowelent. The singer's demonic vocalizations fit the soul-wrenching doom perfectly, a combination of creepy whispering, desperate hysterical screams, and unbelievably deep death grunts delivered dramatically over the music. There is a heavy veil of darkness and hopelessness that falls over all of Anhedonie, in the softer passages where the band stretches out huge droning chords that hang endlessly in midair,racked with despair, through the weird ambient parts of just blastbeats, sickening evil screams and howling feedback and the omnipresent doom riffs...crushing. A fantastic slab of creative, epic deathdoom, highly recommended!