Arcturus.... does the name of this band conjure up images of the solar system, the stars, and the universe far away? Does it make you feel like you're back in high school doing astronomy in science class? Does it give off that spacey vibe to you, like you're on weed or shrooms or LSD?
If that's what you were looking for all along, this band is your man. Arcturus play a unique brand of metal dubbed avant-garde metal, and they cross all the boundaries of music. They go from fierce black metal with grunts (The Radical Cut), to really awesome piano interludes (Ad Absurdum) to trip-hop-esque music (the middle section of Nightmare Heaven), to just plain out mellow rock (Kinetic), these guys combine a lot of musical styles to sound perfectly normal and trippy and spacey at the same time. It's just extraterrestrial, the way these guys sound. The atmospheres are terrific, and do a great job at conveying the ambient nature of the band. Of course, it's something only Garm would think up... but yeah. The black metal roots have been shed on here to great extents (unlike on La Masquerade Infernale), and they have really gone avantgarde.
And they have the band members and musicians to back it up too. Garm does an incredible array of voices, ranging from falsetto to grunt, to clean singing, to crooning. His range is extraordinary, and although his clean voice isn't my all-time favourite, he definitely gets his notes right, and overall he is just a great singer. Hellhammer (yes, THE Hellhammer of Mayhem) plays the drums on here, and instead of just whacking things he lays out some really nice complex drum patterns, trippy, fierce, everything. An accomplished drummer. Sverd pulls off some awesome keyboard passages too, showing that neither of these three escape each other one bit when it comes to musicianship, The guitars and bass are well played of course, but these three men form the core of the band on this album in my opinion. The drums, the vocals and the keyboards just stand out, although there are some really nice guitar solos (Nightmare Heaven has an excellent one), overall you can't complain about musicianship.
As for specific songs, it's hard to pick favourites off here, as nearly anything is good, but Nightmare Heaven is an excellent track, ranging from upbeat to mellow to trippy, just showing off the class of this band. There is no real structure to the song, but it just sucks you in regardless, excellent stuff. Ad Absurdum is another standout track, especially the middle bit where Garm sings:"But tonight, I am Houdini... gonna kill my shadow penetrate your sanctum." is really neat and trippy. Again just high class musicianship overall.
For To End Yet Again, the last track, is a ten-minute masterpiece that could have lasted for twenty if I had my say. Every moment, every guitar lick, every ambient noise, every note, it all fits together like a teacup and a saucer. Nothing is out of place on here. It is simply the culmination of Arcturus' talents in one great song, possibly my favourite Arcturus song ever.
None of the other songs are terrible either. The Radical Cut is the song most reminiscent of older Arcturus, being a furious metal monster with some frantic vocals from Garm and violent riffing and drums to back him up. Kinetic is another hell of a track, just as solid as any of the others. Star Crossed is a really trippy song in my opinion, the piano lines are great on here. The only song I'm not a *total* fan of is Collapse Generation, and even then it's a great track on a superb album.
Overall, if you're into the black metal scene, and are up for something new, this album is a terrific record. If you like getting stoned on music with multiple layers, this album is your man. If you're a big fan of good musicianship in general, this is the perfect album for you. It may take time to grow and get used to the music, but once you do, you'll be well rewarded. I find this to be Arcturus' best release, sadly also the last with Garm on vox, but you can't have everything in life. One hell of an album, and one of the few albums with black metal roots that I can actually sit down and listen to and be happy with. Well worth your 10 bucks.
Oh, and the album cover is amazing, too.
