Atmospheric and brooding as ever, The Infinity Ring return with an absolute unit, Ataraxia. This moody narrative combines all the hearty inner workings you’d expect from a goth artist. The band always showcases expert creative prowess with a daring initiative that many wouldn’t attempt to cross. Ataraxia expanded upon what Nemesis & Nativity began. However, there were a few areas that were focused on theatrics, leaning into the drone more heavily than the atmosphere or post-industrial. The Infinity Ring’s clever composition of genre-bending is fascinating, often landing in the right places while occasionally dragging out a bit too long.
Longer songs are always welcome in combating today’s naturally short attention span. The Infinity Ring do a decent job of world-building instantly, cultivating clear scenes as the music continues. “Obsidian” serves as more of a prologue than chapter one, dipping listeners’ toes into what they are about to experience. And it certainly will be an experience—No one person will share the same opinion of Ataraxia. From the first few seconds, audiences are engaging themselves with experimental music that will force them to expand their minds. This record requires quite a bit of time to digest.
“Obsidian” into “Nightingale” offers a seamless transition. Unfortunately, transitions like this have become antiquated in modern music due to short-form content consumption—So it’s refreshing when they make a grand re-entrance. The Infinity Ring does a wonderful job of reaffirming their stance as storytellers, with their stylistic guidance adding “oomph” to these transitions. These two songs brilliantly fuse, almost becoming impossible to indicate where one begins, and the other ends. However, sometimes this can have the opposite effect as its intent. ATARAXIA hails itself as a grand exploration of the self via creative expression, which is always awesome and necessary. Sometimes the theatrics take away from the main spectacle: the band’s individual and combined talents. Granting the audience some breathing room to focus on certain elements at a time would have made “Nightingale” more well-rounded, versus forcing it as a transitional element for the narrative at hand.
Inversely, “Elysium” holds its ground as the strongest track in the LP. A building groove showcases multiple different rhythmic elements, adding a post-rock vibe to the experimental world The Infinity Ring lives within. Admirably, the guitar playing in this song is fantastic; it’s tight, concise, and fits within its place like a glove. Nothing feels forced in “Elysium;” instead, The Infinity Ring finds its perfect balance. Staple goth vocals are met with an ethereal, cathartic chorus. The song feels like a release, or perhaps a reflection, a moment of epiphany among the chaos, destruction, and depression usually displayed by the band. It is by no means positive in nature, but, the band pique interest by adding elements of sonic nuance.
Their previous record had the opposite problem, where too much sonic differentiation confused their audience. This time, though, many of the tracks sound the same, with “Elysium” refreshingly changing the pace. That is not to say that every album ever made requires roaring drums to be successful or enjoyable. Rather, if The Infinity Ring were to continue the slow, brooding route throughout, they could emphasize experimentation and implement keys or things other than a droning pad synth under each layer.
“Hymn” suffers similar issues. The pad synthesizers are heard immediately, with a similar groove to “Elysium” guiding the way, but in slo-mo. Ataraxia occasionally falls into the trap of over-indulgence, unintentionally. Of course, the monotone vocal delivery is not the issue; rather, the themes within the record combined with the pace of it make it drag just a hair. Creative juices flowed between two studios across the span of several years to create this LP, so it deserves grace. However, this conundrum leaves the band at a creative impasse. Concise and overflowing as it is, the repetitive use of specific elements like pad synths, chord progressions, and drum beats becomes overbearing. The song’s build is incredible, though, showcasing those powerful lead vocals.
Similarly, the chant at the center of “Revenge” in the hook explains overarching points well. Vocal delivery shines once again, with a vampiric lead guiding the way. Though shorter than many of the other songs, it still succeeds to a similar fault that often entraps these gems. “Lock me away in my pity prison” is phenomenal writing, though, and showcases the strong lyrical ability found throughout Ataraxia. The lyrics from the first to final notes of the LP are mind-blowing and require a lot of introspection upon the first listen.
“The Drum” sounded identical to much of the record, until it didn’t. Exercising patience is required for Ataraxia. Plenty of strokes of genius exist throughout it, including and especially “The Drum.” Perhaps this critic is a sucker for percussion. Regardless, it stands out because it is otherwise underutilized in many other tracks. The cinematic build right at the heart of the song is phenomenal, acting as one of the strongest pieces of music in the entire thing. The Infinity Ring are excellent storytellers, leaning more on sounds than words to get their point across. That’s no easy feat, so it makes sense that their record might not be for everyone.
The final two tracks allow the curtain to glide down to the stage gently. Haunting overlapping vocals in “The Window” remain among the most memorable moments of the record. It is a bit difficult to understand what the secondary voice is saying. Her melodies become lost over the soaring string section, gaining momentum. Thankfully, this choice reads as intentional, a testament to the themes of longing. Audiences become forced to give her their undivided attention as she slips away into the void, as they watch from a window. This masterful storytelling encapsulates the best of The Infinity Ring’s strengths.
Finally, The Infinity Ring’s decadent gothic nightmare comes to a close with “The Archway.” Archways symbolize new beginnings or transitions, immediately hinting at some potential contextual elements. Though the songwriter evidently wrote it as verses, the song delivers it almost as prose. It evokes the same feeling as having someone read a storybook to you, albeit a haunting, gory, and tragic one. This serves as a profound conclusion to The Infinity Ring’s saga. Lyricism stands front and center, with deeply resonant passages seeing us off into the void, until The Infinity Ring returns again.
Though imperfect, Ataraxia has tons of promise and potential. It soars beyond Nemesis & Nativity by miles. The Infinity Ring have the power to completely alter the musical landscape as audiences know it, should they continue to push sonic limits as they have been.
