Arche - Transitions (2022)

One of our favorite genres at Infernal Masquerade has to be any variant of Death/Doom Metal, particularly during winter, Funeral Doom Metal releases are just the best for a stroll in the cold weather. Today we have Finland’s latest export named Arche and their full-length debut “Transitions”. Featuring three songs and over 36 minutes of music, this release shows a worthy competitor to Finnish greats like Thergothon, Shape of Despair and Skepticism.

The release opens with the crushing “Reverential Silence”, a piece that slowly builds momentum as it delivers punishing slow riffs, powerful growls, and bleak soundscapes. The band’s sound is quite massive and yet desolate, allowing for the whole song to truly get under the listener’s skin. Nicely breaking up the release in two main movements, “Transition” is a folky acoustic track that changes up the tempo and perfectly frames the emotions behind the two main songs.

Bringing the release full circle, we have the harrowing “In A Solace Light” and its chills inducing crafty tempo and despondent guitars. The track has a nice My Dying Bride “The Light at the end of the World” vibe. We particularly greatly enjoyed the complementary nature of the clean vocals. As a whole, “Transitions” is one of those crushing Funeral Doom releases that takes a bit to recover from, but they are excellent to enjoy. If you are a fan of the genre, give these guys a try as you will be pleasantly surprised.

Label: Transcending Obscurity Records

Release: December 16th, 2022

Genre: Funeral Doom Metal

Country: Finland