Officium Triste

The Dutch collective Officium Triste originated under the name Reincremated while still functioning as a conventional death metal unit, only to reinvent themselves in 1994 as a traditional doom/death outfit deeply shaped by Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, and Katatonia. From the moment they issued their debut recording, the 1996 EP Mountains of Depressiveness, followed by the widely received 1997 album Ne Vivam, core members Pim Blankenstein on vocals, Gerard de Jong on guitar, and Martin Kwakernaak on keyboards have remained steadfast in that approach. Bassist Lawrence Meyer and drummer Niels Jordaan, who came aboard after the 2001 release The Pathway, have likewise upheld the same vision. Occasional explorations of funeral doom tempos surfaced on Reason in 2004 and Giving Yourself Away in 2007, yet the latter set maintained a reliably compelling, if largely predictable, level of songcraft, suggesting the band will continue working within their established creative territory for the foreseeable future.