Rising from their moss-covered crypt, CAUCHEMAR is back with their third full-length, "Rosa Mystica," the band's first offering since 2019's "Trapped Under Ice" compilation. Meticulously composed and rehearsed to perfection, the album is a fully realized expression of the band's signature sound of somber traditional Doom delivered with the vigor of Heavy Metal. The album contains eight tracks, all in French.

"Jour de colere" leads off the album. Rumbles of thunder open the song along with clean guitars and prophetic feelings. The main riff kicks in hard with energy. The vocals are a bit pitchy, and the sound quality just a bit amateur. "Rouge sang" is a much shorter song with a re-hashed riff. It took me looking up the vocalist to figure out it was a female singer, because many of her vocals are just not featured prominently and thus are hard to hear. "Notre-Dame-sous-Terre" opens with a slow, Doomy groove, where the vocals match the guitar progressions. If they are going for uninspired, this song certainly would support that.

"Danger de nuit" is the first song that opens with a little light in the main melody. But the main riff is so overused, it's not even funny. I truly wonder how a band can exist in today's scene living off recycled riffs. It carries a certain power with it but it's just so common. The title track is a slower, more traditional Doomy affair. Keyboards are used here to augment the sound. Following a lighter passage, the plodding riff returns. "Le tombeau de l'aube" is a shorter piece with some double bass work to go along with the traditional riff. These types of simple riffs really make it hard to tell if the band has talent. "Volcan" begins with another old riff that is worn and from the past, disguised as Doom Metal. We all know that most Doom Metal is riff based, and the riffs are often not that complicated. But these are just so used in the past there is no point bringing them back to life.

"La sorcière" closes the album. The opening vocals are quite pitchy, and the semi-inventive bass work doesn't save the sound. From there, it rolls forward with more rehashed riffs. These types of amalgams between traditional Heavy Metal and Doom genres can result in one of two things...either an interesting take on two storied genres, or a stale sound that doesn't capitalize on the strengths of either genre. The latter is what we have here for the most part. Many of the riffs are ones that you have heard before, and the vocals are lackluster. It was a decent effort, but fell short of the mark.