From their EPK, “ARKAIST explores man's quest for meaning in a world crippled by the collapse of society. Mankind is looking for new points of reference, and to do this it needs to introspect, observing its shortcomings and being driven to correct them, to rise above them. It savors his isolation, the nostalgia for times gone by, but also the hatred, which gives rise to violence that its struggles to control. The lack of quest will drive mankind to a process of individuation, to realize itself by atoning for its faults, and finally to rise. The band draws its inspiration from both news stories and fairy tales, from the works of Jung and Nietzsche, from the pleasure of a walk in the forest and the wake of concrete streets.”

The album has seven songs, and the title track is first. It is very aggressive out of the gate, with a heavy dissonance and harsh vocals. The pace quickens approaching the half way point, but the contentious sounds remain. “Ode à la Haine” explodes out of the gate with a heavy, distorted rumble that sounds like boots of the undead marching to war. The semi-clean vocals speak of torture and anguish while the harsh speak of anger and rage. “Prophète du Sang” has some distinct ominous tones built into the weighted aggression, and the amount of chaos in the song is noteworthy. “Terre Ancestrale” begins with clean vocal chants and a loose, almost folky feeling. From there, a slow and desperate grind carries the song forward, and you can feel the laments.

“Anachorète” has a more traditional Black Metal sound, with a thick wall of guitars and harsh vocals. The pacing shifts a bit throughout, going from heavy and fast to slow and grim. “Linceul d'Éther” is almost eight minutes long, and it sounds like the band is digging deep into the abyss to find out what horrors might lie there. They explore all manners of the darkness…in every crack and corner, and what they uncover is too filthy to speak of. The somber clean vocals at the end are the only sign you need. “Puer Aeternus” closes the album, and brings back more somber and hopeless tones along with the rage of the instruments and vocals.

Overall, this wasn’t a bad album per se, but their traditional approach to Black Metal didn’t allow for a lot of diversity. With so much latitude given to Metal bands these days, why not take advantage of that?