From the country that gave us some of the earliest and best known doom metal bands such as Thergothon, Skepticism and Shape of Despair, we have the unheralded gem of a band in Arche who are giving their own masterful touches to that sound. Their music is an immaculate expression of ethereal, moving, atmospheric doom metal that has everything in the right proportions. It’s impeccably balanced too, with just the right amount of emotive appeal when too many bands overindulge in oppressive melodrama, and the heavier influences remain seamlessly integrated into the sound instead of coming across as forced and sticking out abruptly. As if having a mind and heart of its own, the music flows uninterruptedly and finds its own path and remains content with it, keeping up the slow yet constant pace through the ups and downs of life. The most endearing quality about this record however is just how sincere it sounds, and when it comes to sentimental music of this sort, there is nothing more important. It reeks of pure understated class.

For fans of – Mournful Congregation, Evoken, Skepticism, Doom:VS, Officium Triste