Progressive Metal sextet ARSEA formed in 2006 in Italy. They have released two previous albums, with seven years between them, and now seven years have passed since their last release. "Order of Mantis" is their latest effort, and contains eleven tracks. "Prologue" is the first. It's a short, mood-setting instrumental, leading to "Eternal Embrace," which is a heavy offering of thick vibrato vocals and instrumentation. There are some Progressive elements present, but it isn't overly complicated. "Nothing to Lose" is an energetic offering thick with keyboards and a rich, open sound out of the production. But the vocalist has to stretch here into ranges that make his voice falter a bit. The instrumentation is fairly strong however.

"Lullaby" is a little better, with a snarly sound and some tight musicianship. There is some dynamism present also, with thick accents followed by light passages. "Call me Evil" is a slowed down song with some light orchestral elements, especially the charming piano notes. It's a bit of an odd mixture of some longing elements and some more energetic ones. The more tender sounds just don't connect with the rest of the song. "All That Remains" is an eight-minute opus, beginning with thick guitar notes and some heavy undertones. But, it meanders a bit, and I question the need for an eight-minute song that lingers in mediocrity as this does.

"Unfair" closes the album. It's more concise, and with some catchy elements, but still fails to impress. Some of the more tender moments are nice, but they also expose the singer's intonation, that he struggles with in moments on the album. Overall, although the band are good musicians, the songwriting left some things to be desired. Obviously, the band are not newbies in the genre of Metal, but they need to step up their songwriting game into more memorable offerings if they are going to stay around for a while.