Don't confuse this Spanish band with the French doom/death band Ataraxie on Weird Truth; this is Ataraxy, a gang of crypt-lurkers who invoke the gods of ancient sludgy death metal on their six-song debut Curse Of The Requiem Mass. Their Ep is one of the first releases for the new label Memento Mori, who along with the reissue of Centinex's Subconscious Lobotomy are well on their way towards staking their claim in the realm of atavistic and barbaric death metal. Hell, while listening to this half-hour disc I keep thinking that I've inadvertently grabbed one of my old Peaceville discs off of the shelf, 'cuz this sounds like it's easily twenty years old. Ataraxy's music reeks of that classic doomed death metal sound from the dawn of the 90's, the throwback riffs and cavernous heaviness drawing influence from Bolt Thrower, Asphyx, Autopsy and early Immolation. There's a noticeable Swedish death metal influence in here too. Gaseous gasping vokills and fearsome down tuned riffage, eerie evil guitar leads drifting over the massive crush of songs like "The Last Stare" and "Curse Of The Requiem Mass"; the songwriting is pretty good for a band fresh out of the gate, and Ataraxy pull off an excellent evocation of ancient death metal that puts the emphasis on slow-to-mid-paced death metal that's judiciously laced with well-timed bursts of galloping thrash or blast beats. The band is at their best though when unleashing the skull crushing doom on songs like "Bleed To Death" and the monolithic eight minute closer "Hear The Ghouls". Honestly, though, I was pretty well sold as soon as I saw the surreal Seagrave-influenced album art for Curse...; everything about this is a time warp back to the glory days of slo-mo caveman death metal, but with a heightened level of craftsmanship that you don't usually hear in throwback bands like this. For those of you who lust for contempo death metal primitivism like that peddled by Spun In Darkness, Coffins and Fistula and any of those aforementioned classic outfits, Curse Of The Requiem Mass comes recommended.