Originally planned on being a
Death Metal band named Mortem, but evolved into an Atmospheric Black
Metal band, and later into an Avantgarde band.
Discography
Slow Death
EP, 1989
Slow Death
Demo, 1989
Promo 90
Demo, 1990
My Angel
Single, 1991
Constellation
EP, 1993
Aspera Hiems Symfonia
Full-length, 1996
La Masquerade Infernale
Full-length, 1997
Reconstellation
EP, 1999
Disguised Masters
Full-length, 1999
Aspera Heims Symfonia/Constellation/My
Angel
Best of/Compilation, 2002
The Sham Mirrors
Full-length, 2002
This is a band that have written history
without becoming a source of inspiration for other acts, simply because their
avantgarde form of art is something magic and totally personal, something to
admire, not to copy...You can’t find the typical bunch of kids saying "Let’s
try to sound Arcturus", because the music of that band is composed by
skilled musician who have submitted their quality to an highly emotional,
visionary, sometimes abstract form of music, creating something eternal.
In 1991, when everyone was sounding raw and primitive, beyond the trend, they
started their musical experience with the famous 7’’ "My Angel",
a fantastic mixture of metal, electronic-darkness and disturbing noise
elements. Thanks to that 7’’ Arcturus gained a great underground
respectability, but three years passed before their next work, the promotional
“Constellation”, where the sound changes drastically into a melodic,
symphonic, majestic and monumental picture of the northern lands, the
mysticism of its night sky. Four awesome songs, recorded without the bass,
like a star glimpse.
The result of this promotional work is a
contract and the 1995 masterpiece
"Aspera Hiems Symfonia" (Vote 9.5), a mixture of pure majestic art,
an eternal vision of a snowy land and a forlorn epic memory in the background.
Garm’s clean voice, apart from the more conventional black-screaming,
picture great emotional views, a great feeling a bit melancholic.
The Sverd performance of the keyboards is simply astonishing, he’s able to
insert the right moods with the right timing, and the guitar-work of August
add great melodic lines and great solos, perfectly mixed with the global
atmosphere. The result of this incredible teamwork is a never-ending storm of
emotions. But the best it was yet to come, they work harder to return with
what I consider, and probably I will forever believe to be, the best
avantgarde album of the post-blackmetal era!
(1997) "La Masquerade Infernale" (Vote
10 +), an incredible mix of different influences, a fusion of madness, and
extremism without brutality, a way to corrupt the conservatism of a stagnation
that was transforming the black metal eerie feeling into the early days in
something ordinary (apart from the greats act of Emperor-Anthems! and
Satyricon- Nemesis!), something completely new and never heard before. A
rebellion, a satanic chaotic war against the low profile attitude of people
already become old, an energy without chains, where electronic, noise, jazz,
classical orchestral elements, a psychedelic touch worked together to create
something unique. Theatrical atmosphere, Melancholy, Sadness, Rebellion, where
mixed in a melting-pot of magic. The arrangements are simply amazing, Garm
performers a very original voice, like a faustian thinker, theatrical and
intimist. The keybords, synths. and orchestral parts are the main part of the
music, together with the electro-noise inserts, the sound is so complex that
every listening is a challenge to capture the elements mixed in that cauldron
of magic! a page of music history!
It has been really a drama the Arcturus’s
split after that album, only a remix album came-out in 1999, "Disguised
Masters" (Vote 7), nothing to do with the artistic superiority of their
previous recordings, they recorded an only interesting, but much more
electronic, new song, and totally changed the "Masquerade" songs in
a electro-noise way, losing all their theatrical and classical atmosphere. It
was an epitaph, nothing more, a long period passed, but from the silent, after
long time, Arcturus came-back in 2002 restarting from the point they left
after "La Masquerade".
It was clear, after the late Ulver release, that the sound should be much more
electronic and less classical."Sham Mirrors" (Vote 9.5) have lost
some of the originalities of the bands, is much more metal oriented and linear
but still represent a unique and spectacular creation. The madness wasn’t
died at all, an electronic mixture work with a more solid metal guitar-work,
but there are surprises there and there, able to capture the attention of the
ambitious listener. The Dark mood is projected in the mysterious space, in
some moments it reminds me to "My Angel", but differently from that
there’s a less claustrophobic atmosphere, like a liberation, an escape from
the terrestrial visions. The last song is a long journey that pays all the
long Arcturus departure from the scene.
What a dream...
rebellion, a satanic chaotic war against the low profile attitude of people
already become old, an energy without chains, where electronic, noise, jazz,
classical orchestral elements, a psychedelic touch worked together to create
something unique. Theatrical atmosphere, Melancholy, Sadness, Rebellion, where
mixed in a melting-pot of magic. The arrangements are simply amazing, Garm
performers a very original voice, like a faustian thinker, theatrical and
intimist. The keybords, synths. and orchestral parts are the main part of the
music, together with the electro-noise inserts, the sound is so complex that
every listening is a challenge to capture the elements mixed in that cauldron
of magic! a page of music history!
