Band:	Ixion
Album:	L'Adieu Aux Etoiles
Style:	Atmospheric doom metal
Release date:	October 2020

01. Stellar Crown
02. Havoc
03. The Great Achievement
04. Progeny
05. The Black Veil
06. Pulsing Worlds
07. Farewell

French atmospheric doom metalers Ixion have returned from, er, Return with their latest voyage, L'Adieu Aux Etoiles. The title translates to "Farewell To The Stars", which is rather amusing considering this album would make a great soundtrack to a cosmic road trip.

Almost a decade ago I covered the release of their first full-length, To The Void and really enjoyed it. The album has remained perched at the peak, comfortably atop their subsequent releases. I think L'Adieu Aux Etoiles might challenge the OVG (original void gangsta) for that place. "The Great Achievement" indeed.

And what was said then still comes through now.

Their brand of doom isn't soul crushing. It's melancholic. It's depressive, but not apocalyptic plague. (more 2016 than 2020). While you have that icy frozen core of harsh vocals, slow tempos and occasional stutter-steps to jar the listener, it's coated in a layer of synths like a comfy blanket to buzz the harsh. Some Mellow Moments? and clean vocals combined with piano & lead guitar melodies further make this a more comfortable listen.

And while some of the more extreme doom crowd will craft songs longer than most sitcoms (and albums that last longer than the lifespan of most sitcoms), Ixion are into that whole brevity thing. Not a single track on this album clocks in at seven minutes, let alone 27. It's a doom drive-by. Or float-by, if you will.

To some extent, L'Adieu Aux Etoiles is like a nice, warm bubble bath and a bottle of Bordeaux's finest (budget accommodating) red. It envelopes and relaxes the listener. Eases you in and leaves you feeling cozily numbed.

The final track on this album is titled "Farewell" - I'm hoping that and the album title aren't carrying bigger implications, as I'd surely enjoy taking another flight around the inner solar system with them again in a few years.

L'Adieu aux eotioles, bonjour à bandcamp