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ATARAXY
The Last Mirror

Me Saco un Ojo / Dark Descent (2022)
Rating: 8/10

Four years ago Spanish death / doom merchants Ataraxy released its impressive sophomore outing Four years ago Spanish death / doom merchants Ataraxy released its impressive sophomore outing Where All Hope Fades, and now they have returned with a new selection of tracks for your pleasure.

The Last Mirror opens with some truly crushing dragging. ‘Presages’ is a short yet mesmerising introduction of clambering, humid drudgery before the onset of ‘The Bell That Constantly Sounds’ takes centre stage with its suspense and eeriness.

The dehydrated bellows of Javi lace this foreboding tremor like dry, grasping coughs of terror suffocated by great waves of blanketing doom. Viejo pummels his kit in tandem with the crushing bass of Edu, while the melody of the leads and the showcasing of atmospheric keyboards bring together a dark, moody setting within which the band structures its colossal ooze.

‘Decline’ acts in a completely opposite fashion. This track is a fast-paced assault with hammering percussion and Santi and Javi’s axe work. Occasional glimpses of doom trudges snake through the mire, the band far more effective in their suspenseful state as thick layers of gloom form like damp webs, heavy with droplets.

Ataraxy are adept at creating pallid veils of misery, even though the sound in general doesn’t come anywhere near the foul doomy atmospherics created by other bands in the genre. ‘Decline’ showcases the versatility and stunning power of this quartet and their eye for catchy passages. Some truly eerie moments are captured as the instruments become stark reminders of a netherworld we can only hint at.

‘Visions Of Absence’ is hauntingly murky as the combo craft a niche somewhere between Finnish and Swedish death metal, but with their own ancestral horrors squeezed in-between. So we get a deep, miasmal draining effect of aching doom and overwhelming sadness and aged terror. The riffs then transform into a hefty chug along with those persistent percussive rattles. Ataraxy bring a lot of ingredients to the table, stirring its huge vat to create swirls of bleak colour and pinches of ash to dry the air.

‘Under The Cypress Shadow’ is Gothic death metal, pure and simple, bludgeoning yet somehow airy it nods to old school dynamics but still drifts into modernised aesthetics, almost touching upon black metal nuances with those glinting guitar melodies and chilly orchestral touches.

‘Silence’ is equally masterful yet cold, windswept and dreary, but always effective in its unravelling. This is an abysmal, rainy drudge through dismal fields, a boggy slog of reaching vocal sneers and, again, that triggering percussion.

‘A Mirror Reflects Our Fate’ closes the album, and again there’s that haunting atmosphere, a sense of dread and half-hinted horror. This is a compelling yet austere ache of a track that leads us to our final destination of misery and woe.

With The Last Mirror, Ataraxy have once again smothered us with their engaging dynamics and their combination of death and doom metal.

Neil Arnold

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