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When talking about Arcturus, many rightly think of the band that brought new life to avantgarde metal and extreme progressive metal, thanks to albums like "The Sham Mirrors", and especially the pivotal "La Masquerade Infernale" which, released in 1997, was a work that was light years away from the scene of the time, capable of crossing boundaries that had until then been considered too daring for the true metalhead.
But few know that, in the beginning, the band played symphonic black metal and that the Arcturus of 'Aspera Hiems Symfonia', in my opinion, are undoubtedly the truest and most sincere. In 1996, a year after the masterpiece, the debut of the five Norwegians (Garm - Vocals, Carl August Tidemann - Guitar, Skoll - Bass, Steinar Sverd Johnsen - Keyboards, Hellhammer - Drums) was released and, although not groundbreaking in terms of innovation (yet already using an unusual and personal sound, thus resulting in its own unique way), it starts from the classic black stylings to arrive at new and unexplored shores, using solutions even 'unusual' for the genre.
The opening is entrusted to the majestic To Thou Who Dwellest In The Night, in which Garm's scream perfectly blends with the 'heavenly' arpeggios created by the brilliant keyboardist Sverd. Mr. Von Blomberg creates a fantastic soundscape, using less blast beat than in the past and much more technique, approaching solutions typical of prog metal. The result is one of the most beautiful black metal songs ever written, and that alone would be enough to justify the price of the compact disc.
But Arcturus must prove to the world that they are a band different from the others, an entity unto themselves, so here appear particular insights: not rarely does Gard move from scream to clean singing, creating sonic pearls of incredible allure (Wintry Grey primarily), heart-wrenching piano breaks that recall the contemporary and compatriot Stormblast, emotion brought to stellar levels, separating from the classic style that wants black metal cold and detached: Arcturus strike directly at the listener's heart with aggressive but elegant solutions, full of feeling and emotion.
Raudt Og Svart is taken directly from the "Constellation" EP from 1993, here enriched by the fantastic vocal performance of Garm, who also performs in a spectral falsetto, as well as 'dueting with himself' between scream and clean voice, foreshadowing the theatrical-operatic twist of 'La Masquerade Infernale'. Wonderful solo by Tidemann. Du Nordavind is the piece most influenced by classical music. Guitar and keyboard chase each other, while Hellhammer keeps an odd time with a naturalness that is frightening. Continuous accelerations and decelerations make this track the best of the album, after the opening track.
Moving and bitter is Fall Of Man, equipped with a really noteworthy keyboard carpet, and a goosebumps-inducing finale, with Sverd's keyboard grinding out riff after riff, chord after chord always showing excellent inspiration. The solo, in this case as well, is among the best, worthy of a Kirk Hammett. With an excellent atmospheric intro, Naar Kulda Tar closes the album, this time approaching the compositional style of the early Cradle Of Filth, all obviously revisited in the Arcturus key.
What to say about this album? Well... in my opinion, it is a work unique in its genre, impossible to compare even to the other works of the band, an incredibly underrated album at the time of its release, like all avant-garde works after all. Recommended truly for everyone, from the brutal deathster to the Iron Maiden fan.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 To Thou Who Dwellest in the Night (06:46)
Here is so desolate;
Times, they are dark
Words ceas' - to end as echoes rolling afar
Empathy arises
whilst thou drapest this world in black;
The only colour that can paint my soul
Clad in the shades of night
Thou reflects the pure of heart
Amidst all the grief this winter unfoldeth
The thorn in my side - thou retainst
Thy breeze maketh me shiver
Maimeth me with its frozen malice
Thou minglest with the dense night
I hearken to the voice of thy winds
They are the saddest of all sounds of thine
Never will I take leave from thy haunt
Hast thou ever desired me?
I recieve no answer, thou letst it pass in silence...
02 Wintry Grey (04:34)
Frozen streams and vapours gray,
cold and waste the landscape lay...
Then a hale of wind.
Hither-Whirling, Thither-Swilrling,
Spinn the fog and spinn the mist...
Still we walked on through woods and wintry gray,
home through woods where winter lay - Cold and dark...
(Waiting for a change in the weather.
Waiting for a shift in the air.
Could we get there together, ever?
Waiting for our late, late return)
Through the woods. Home through the woods where winter lay...
03 Whence & Whither Goest the Wind (05:15)
The wind bloweth
Where (...) and I hearest the sound there/their ...(?)
But can not tell
Whence it cometh and whither it goest
Once there was wisdom
Bestowed upon us
The winds of centuries
Have long since passed
???.. have imprisoned us
...??...
The wind bloweth...
04 Raudt og svart (05:49)
Deira dagar har m?rkna
Moder jord meld sitt fraafall
Men sverdet har gaat vidare
Til ein ny b?rar
Me er einsomme menn
Me b?r fenresulvens muspell
Skoll skal sluka sola
Me er djerve menn
Sola svartner
Der fjellvegg ramlar
Naa gjestar sorgen
Paa livets tre (Yggdrasil)
For byleits bror farar
Kva er det ikkje Kampfar klaren?
[English translation:]
[Red And Black]
The days have darkened
Mother earth announces her death
While the sword has moved on
To a new bearer
We are lonesome men
We bear the wolf-Fenris Muspell
Skoll shall swallow the sun
We are brave men
Sun blackens
Where mountain's walls collapse
Now guest the sorrow
On the life's tree (Yggdrasill)
For Byleit's brother travels
What is it that the Warfather can't do?
06 Du Nordavind (04:00)
Et blekt avdagsleite
Famler hen, til nattvart himmel
Vandring hjem, til nattsvart himmel
Vandring hjem I eismal
Under skumringens tidligste stjerne
Tusm?rket dypner I det fjerne
Du nordavind, jeg speider fjern og n?r
Kommer du igjen fra de ?e land hvor ingen mann er?
Tilsammen - vi to. over beksvart hav
Enn om du aldri hit vil komme
Jeg tilbyi deg mitt kj?lnende blod
Evig vil min sjel skue mot nord
Stundom mitt sinn skal reise
Til tid tar slutt paa jord
Hver en j?vel vill
Som sank I vann f?r tid var til...
Jeg drev forlatt og vandret vill
Ennu har du ikke h?rt mitt hill
I tomme natten skimjet jeg
Et glimt av land, en evig ild
[English translation:]
[You Notherwind]
A pale hour of the day
Grope away, to the night-black sky
Wandering home, to the night-black sky
Wandering home alone
Under evening's earliest star
Twilight sinks in the distance
You northern wind, I'm looking far and near
Will you come again from the wasteland where there is no one?
Together - we two over black pitch sea
Even if you'll never come here
I can give you my chilling blood
Forever will my soul look at the north
Often my soul shall journey
Until time ends on earth
As wild as a devil
That sank in the water before time was
I walked alone and wandered in the wilderness
Still you didn't hear my call
In the empty night I can see
A glare in the land, an eternal fire
07 Fall of Man (06:06)
Now there is
my fairytale(s)
of dying flowers
of the earth
and those it covers
of dying maids
and viking men
of birds.. that never
of ever are the same again
08 Naar kulda tar (Frostnettenes prolog) (04:21)
Naar vinteren tar bitter fart
Og steiner sprekker I frostklar natt
Ved svarte tjern under naken li
Da er villmarken vond aa ferdes I
Vi befarer store sletter
Der sneen ligger tykk
Det blaaser kaldt - Vi skal d?
Vi har s?rgelig nok forfalt
Fra still tjern
Till hortbetonte vidder
Farvel
[English translation:]
[When The Cold Takes]
When the winter takes a bitter speed
And stones crack in the frost-clear night
By black lakes under naked slope
Then is the wilderness hard to go through
We walk across vast planes
Where the snow lies thick
It blows cold - we will die
Sadly, we have fallen enough
From still lakes
To far-toned plateau
Farewell-
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