THE ANHEDONY DOMAIN

"The Anhedony Domain" is the 2nd official release by Polish black/death metal act Sammath Naur. It's a 4 track, 17:04 minutes long EP released independently by the band in May 2009. Sammath Naur was formed in 1999 and released their debut full-length studio album "Self-Proclaimed Existence" in 2005.

The music on three of the tracks on the EP is symphonic black metal with melodic death metal elements. The track "Pyrrhic Beat" is a short ambient synth track. The songwriting is intriguing but not exactly original. The lack of originality is compensated for with the strong musicianship and the well sounding production and overall "The Anhedony Domain" is a quality release by Sammath Naur. The omnipresence of orchestrated synths provide the band's sound with an epic quality, but the music is actually quite dynamic and there are more raw stripped down parts on the EP too. The vocals vary between raspy black metal type vocals and deeper death metal growling.

So despite the fact that Sammath Naur don't bring much new to the table, "The Anhedony Domain" is still a worthwhile release and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.