Ataraxie

After the split of his former black metal band, Reign of Evil, Jonathan decided to continue on his own and make a new band. Long time Doom-Metal fan, regretting the lack of Doom-Metal bands in France, he therefore chose to found Ataraxie, along with Clement, that already played with him in Reign Of Evil.

At the end of 2000, Jonathan and Clement met Pierre in Hellion Record’s shop, Rouen’s meeting place for all metalheads. Soon the rehearsal started. Also recruited at Hellion Record’s shop, Sylvain joined the band at the very beginning of 2001.

At that moment, Ataraxie sounded more like a black/death metal band with ‘doomy’ influences. The band even played some Reign Of Evil tunes, rearranged a more “doomier” way. After a few months of rehearsals, the band first hit the stage in April 2001, and yet received good reactions from the crowd.

During May 2001, Clement left Ataraxie, for focusing on his own brutal death/black metal project, Supremacy. Again met in Hellion Record’s, Fred replaced Clement in June. The line up never changed afterwards.

From summer 2001 to spring 2002, Ataraxie alternated composition and gigs, evoluting toward an extreme doom/death style. Seven songs were recorded by the band himself, became “The Other Path”, the first ‘studio’ release (released at the beginning of 2003), that reflects this evolution.

From autumn 2002, Ataraxie focused on gigging, with a growing reputation of solid performers. In January 2003, they shared the stage with the cult French band Supuration (aka S.U.P.), and in February 2003, were invited to join the English and French leg of the Doomination tour, along with the reknown Doom-metal bands Morgion, Mourning Beloveth and The Prophecy. The climax of it in Bradford, UK, when they performed in front of My Dying Bride... that gigs opened the doors for other shows, in and out of France. Ataraxie played for instance the Dutch Doom Day II, sharing the stage with their long time influence Evoken, or more recently was chosen as support for Cult of Luna.

By spring 2004, the composition of the new album was finished, retaining five songs for a length of over 50 minutes. that time, the band decided to invest his own money on a professional studio, for proper sound and production. Kris Belaen, from CCR Studio (No Return, Aborted, Pantheist, Thee Plague of Gentlemen, In-Quest…) was chosen for producing and recording this album.

The tracks were recorded during august, and mixed down during September 2004. By spring 2005, a licence deal was signed with Weird Truth, a Japanese label (Mournful Congregation, Loss, Worship…) for releasing the album in june 2005.

For now, Ataraxie is seeking gigs, as well as interviews and reviews for promoting the new album.