Canadian heavy metal band Cauchemar release their third full-length album, Rosa Mystica.

Cauchemar is from Québec and have been together since 2007. They have a very traditional metal approach to their music that works as a starting point. From there they steep their work in doom and manifest fascinating creations. They released an EP in 2010, La vierge noire, followed by two long-players, Tenebrario (2013) and Chapelle ardente (2016). Each new album is a step toward the vanishing point as the band hones its sound and compositional constitution through comparative gradation. The new album is their best so far. Cauchemar is Annick Giroux (vocals), François Patry (guitar), Andres Arango (bass), and Joël Ladouceur (drums).

There are eight tracks on Rosa Mystica, beginning with “Jour de colère.” The opening bars are menacing, turning toward the mysterious. About one minute in, the guitars kick in, lifting the discourse to pursuit, and now we are on an adventure. Giroux, singing in French, facilitates a dark mood in a misty wood. “Rouge sang” follows and is ambitious at the jump, with immediate accelerant in the tempo and urgency in the vocals. “Notre–Dame–sous–Terre” is ponderous, accentuating the doom aspects and elements Cauchemar does so well. It is a beautiful, dark treatise.

Listening to the first few songs, I had Fates Warning flashbacks, and maybe Omen, from the 1980s. Also Demon. That is good for me because I love that music. What is particularly different about Cauchemar’s music that lifts it beyond homage is the integration of doom and their unique compositional perspective, as in the title track, for example. Juxtapose those ideas with more active and ranging songs such as “Le tombeau de l’aube” and then the album, taken as a whole, has a more profound impact. Recommended.

Rosa Mystica is out today, Monday, May 16^th through Temple Of Mystery Records. You can pick it up at Bandcamp or through the label’s website. Links below.

Band photo by Chany Pilote.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://cauchemar.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/cauchemarmetal

Temple Of Mystery Records, https://templeofmystery.ca/product-category/cauchemar/

© Wayne Edwards