Arcturus
The Sham Mirrors

THE REVIEW

The orgasm set to music. The apotheosis. The most sincere representation of Beauty. This album is nothing but these things. There are no words, however fitting and expertly written (and mine certainly are not), that can describe what one feels when listening to this gem. If we were to step away for a moment from the purely musical conception of the album, what we would encounter would only be a clear and deep sea of emotions (of course, this applies to all the works of this magnificent group). Emotions in the albums of Arcturus have always been a primary component, but they have been, album after album, subject to destruction, recreation, and reshaping.

Let me explain: “La Masquerade Infernale” was an album dense with theatricality, hallucinogenic and slightly sulfurous atmospheres, and a mood that was almost desperate and sickly; in this “The Sham Mirrors” one breathes a completely different air. The first impression, then, that leaps out after a first listen, is the atmosphere, which is different from usual, primarily due to the evident linearization of the structures, which are anything but banal, and the contrasts of arrangements that have been added to the sound; I refer to the guitar sound, which seems a little rough and heavy over which the new and terribly exciting vocal approach of Garm moves, treading much clearer and more evocative territories, and the magical synths of Sverd (I challenge anyone to find a musician who writes such beautiful music), which create those cosmic and eternity-laden atmospheres that make this album immortal; Hellhammer, as always, dispenses the usual lesson of power, technical elegance, and sonic cleanliness.

The main characteristic of the album is, therefore, this cosmic, ethereal, and eternal attitude. So, we find ourselves imprisoned in “Kinetic,” with its hypnotic and astral refrain, in “Radical Cut,” a rough and fierce almost Black Metal song (screamed, moreover, by Ihsanh of Emperor) that ends with a clean and clear keyboard solo, like drops of stars falling on jagged rocks. There’s “Nightmare Heaven” and its acidic and subterranean trip-hop intermezzo, which then explodes and takes us at crazy speeds into the deepest cosmos with Sverd's brilliant piano scales and Garm's agitated voice. Exceptional. But in my opinion, the highest point of the album is the enormous “For To End Yet Again,” which seals an already perfect work and gives me the reason to assert that Arcturus is one of the greatest bands ever to appear on the metal scene. A frantic incipit, an orgasmic interlude with Sverd's sweet, dreamy, and dreamlike notes, and an absolutely chilling finale on an epic musical fabric.

But all these words of mine are not enough to convey what one faces when listening to a masterpiece of such craftsmanship, it must be listened to, in silence and with bowed head… “nevermind take this lamp we are beyond light…”