Belgian doom/gothic metal act The Archest released debut album »Hymnus Regni Mortuorum«; available now on all major streaming platforms!

Oostende, Belgium based doom/gothic metal act The Archest stream their debut album, »Hymnus Regni Mortuorum«, which was just released on April 30th, 2026.

»Hymnus Regni Mortuorum« is now available on Spotify and other streaming platforms!

Tracklist:
01. Doom Dream Dissolved
02. Omnipresent
03. The Pale Tree In The Desert
04. The White Lady
05. The Black Space Of The Sun
06. Hymnus Regni Mortuorum

The Archest was formed in 2008 by Jonathan Vanderwal (Mortifer, Saille) with drummer Mathias Brys (Mortifer), Kevin Pierloot (Mystère) on bass and Vincent Bulteel (Zwart Bloed) on keyboards. Later on, Vincent was replaced by Dries Gaerdelen (Saille, Mortifer). The style of music was a kind of prog-doom, melancholic dark metal. Several songs were made and we played some gigs until 2011.

In June that year Jonathan decided not to go on with the band due to personal issues and wanted to do something different that resulted in a band called Gazmic. Also Dries and Jonathan were active members of Saille back then and put all their energy in this band.

In 2018 when Jonathan had some spare time after leaving Saille and his 2017 one-man project called Ysmir. He decided to record and refinish a few of the old Archest songs properly and put them online on bandcamp. It would be a waste to just leave them be and die a slow death, so enjoy this glimpse of melancholy!

In the fall of 2024 Jonathan made some death/doom songs with a ghostly horror athmosphere and lyrics about death & spirits just like in the old Mortifer days. That was the new start of The Archest together with Mathias Brys (Mortifer), John Debeuckelaere (Gazmic, The Glitch King) and Kristof Van Iseghem (Saille). On April 30, 2026, The Archest released their first album »Hymnus Regni Mortuorum« on all digital platforms and look forward to play some live gigs!

All music, lyrics and arrangements by Jonathan Vanderwal.

Live line-up:
Mathias Brys – Drums
Kristof Van Iseghem – Bass
John Debeuckelaere – Guitars
Jonathan Vanderwal – Guitars, Vocals

Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well