Slow, atmospheric, and incredibly moody; the first thing that I thought of when I put on ARCHE's two-track debut E.P., "Undercurrents", was Doom. With each of the tracks clocking in at around 15 minutes each, there is a lot of space for sonic and atmospheric exploration, as well as thematic development. The group is made up of already-established members of the Finnish Doom Metal scene, having previously featured in bands such as PROFETUS. The songs make great use of blending distorted and clean guitar sounds.

First up is "Plains of Lethe", a song which opens with a long, sparse instrumental passage played on clean acoustic guitar before building up to a creepy and heavy section complete with incredibly slow-moving guitars and an indecipherable vocal roar which could be anything, or just a very long "ooooooooh". After an almost complete stop, the song's acoustic theme returns, slowly building in intensity to another, heavier section, before ending on a clean, very atmospheric segment. The whole thing creates a sense of vast spaces, and desolate plains that have been ravaged by terrible goings on.

"Funereal Folds" begins with a slowly progressing riff, overlain with a melancholic melody guitar line, slowly building in intensity, and very reminiscent of a funeral march. This is even more of a slow burner of a track, building and building, with the vocal growls eventually coming in to create a low rumble alongside the instrumentalists. This track certainly has a lot more melodic content that its predecessor, and could almost be seen more as an instrumental with the way that the sections fade in and out of each other, once again implying a journey being undertaken.

As a pair, these two tracks are incredibly atmospheric, and have an almost tangible weight to them, with their slowness suggesting a sense of eternity in line with their "Funeral Doom" labelling.
 <