Aura Noir - Deep Tracts of Hell (1998)

Black Thrash Attack might have taken its foot of the brakes, but the full length Aura Noir sophomore Deep Tracts of Hell nearly crashes off the speedway proper and levels half the neighborhoods surrounding the tracks. In fact, I think this record goes a little too far into a more purist black metal direction, not unlike some of what the band's Scandinavian peers like Marduk or Dark Funeral were all about during the same time frame. That's not to say it's just endless, soulless blasting, but the hints of thrash here are a little more scarce, especially in the first two tracks which crash through your ear canals like a corpse painted locomotive that has come flying off the rails. They do steady things out in later tunes like "Swarm of Vultures", while others like "Blood Unity" sound like alternate mixes to tracks from the debut album, but this is pretty much the peak of extremity this band has ever achieved.

Like the more colorful cover tones, the mix here has a little more depth for me than Black Thrash Attack. That's not to say it's perfect, you can still expect plenty of grime to it, but it doesn't feel so neutered and dry as it did on that album. They experiment a little more with lead sounds (like the warped and wavy dissonance in "Blood Unity"), and once again you get some Hellhammer/Celtic Frost/Nocturno Culto vibes, although this comes through primarily in some of the barked vocal lines, or the tune "Purification of Hell" which is a total foreshadow of what would be coming after, though this particular track has a weird hard rock party atmosphere to it, especially in the bridge and lead. But if I'm being honest, that's one of my favorites here, the more intense and fast material, while not badly executed at all, just sort of passes in and out my ears like so much barbed wire floss. There's a little bit of a 'sewer' quality to the record, imagine a black metal approach to Prong's Force Fed, and I find that the more weird and atmospheric it gets ("The Spiral Scar"), the more engaging, but there's not quite enough of that to keep it consistently compelling.

It's corrosive, filthy and furious, and the lyrics rule, but for every lick or vocal line that perks my attention, there are several more that evade it. They were back to a two piece here, and certainly Deep Tracts of Hell has more of an originality to it than the records preceding it. The sharing of the various instrumental duties by Aggressor and Apollyon is pretty unique, certainly a more even distribution than, say, Darkthrone, but it doesn't ultimately shift me in one direction or the other. This was also a sort of 'cusp' for the band, headed into a divisive territory where they would partly change their sound to something more organic and directly worshipful of Tom G. Warrior's bands, so I can see why some people greatly prefer this one (or Black Thrash Attack). For whatever reason, even though these discs were my first exposure to their music, I just happen to favor where they were headed to where they came from, unique or not. But none of that detracts from what a daunting effort this is...if you favor a more dissonant black metal edge cross-bred with the hyper death/thrash or something like Altars of Madness, and some Bathory or Hellhammer for good measure, this remains a pretty intense listen.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

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Aura Noir - Black Thrash Attack (1996)

Where the EP felt like a bit of German thrash worship, Black Thrash Attack feels like a more direct hybrid of its two genres, a faster and more intense attack than its predecessor, but still bursting into those frilly Destruction-like riffing patterns to remain recognizable. This record is a complete assault on the senses, with loads of blasting and much heavier riffs, almost as if the Norwegians' core sound is evolving much like their German influences did through the later 80s and beyond. The band had added Blasphemer here on guitars, and that might explain why it has a denser sound to it, but not necessarily through the production, which is nearly as raw as the EP, and rather dry on my ears, which for me does detract some points away from the experience.

That's not to say I dislike it, because the band's passion and songwriting manage to bleed through the mix. The rhythm guitars are more meaty and varied, in any given track like "Caged Wrath" or "The Pest" there is just a lot more going on, it doesn't feel like it couldn't been scratched out in an afternoon like the EP. They are definitely building a broader portfolio of riffs here, while still keeping some of their elements like the tinny clash of the drumming. Speaking of which, I think both of the core members perform on a few songs and they've improved since the debut, some of the more intense batteries wouldn't have felt out of place on the earlier Marduk offerings. The bass is kind of a non-starter here, the dry and direct production highly favors everything else out so you can only really hear it curving out a little like the low-end thrum of some rhythm chords. Like the EP, there are few riffs or songs overall that really stand out to me over time, but in the moment they can certainly prove exciting ("Eternally Your Shadow" is a favorite, or the title track), and this is also the point where that heavy Hellhammer and Celtic Frost influence turns up ("The One Who Smite"), which would have a huge impact on their later works as the band partly shifted its focus.

The lyrics here are quite a bit better penned than Dreams, although I still get the impression that lots of the song titles and general attitude are paraphrased from Sodom and Destruction. Which, for 1996, wasn't all that dated a concept, but still left the band a little shy of becoming its own distinct identity. Regardless of that, I know a good handful of people that consider this Aura Noir's finest hour. I am not one of them, as the production does little for me and I just feel like this formative 'half' of the band's career has been bested by so many others (Nekromantheon, Deathhammer, and Antichrist would be just a few examples), but Black Thrash Attack was unquestionably a stride forward from the previous release and shows a lot more effort, structure and ambition. Again, not the first record I'm pulling off the shelf, but a damn solid example of how this earlier style and the one it partly inspired can fuse together into something violent and fresh.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

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Aura Noir - Dreams Like Deserts EP (1995)

Dreams Like Deserts came along at a critical point when the whole blackened thrash/speed amalgam was a bit of a novelty; by no means was this some reimagining of the formula, but other than the obvious forebears like Bathory, Venom, Slayer and Possessed, or the earliest works of the German trio of Sodom, Kreator and Destruction, this was not the most popular route for most lingering thrash acts in the 90s to follow. The Scandinavian scene, however, did not get that memo, and so you had acts like Swordmaster, Gehenna, Bewitched, Aura Noir, and the evolving Impaled Nazarene around to spearhead this sort of retro- evolutionary backwashed vitriol, themselves sort of split between the influences of black, death, thrash or speed in differing proportions, but all offering this sort of 'slick', leather-harnessed back alley to the more intense, extremity that was taking over the pure black and death metal genres at the time.

This early Aura Noir recording was among the earlier works of Aggressor and Apollyon, two musicians who would go on to a lot of projects, including Aggressor's similar Infernö which would take off at around the same time in a more decidedly speed/thrash configuration with more of a punk foundation. And here you've got what sounds to me like pretty basic larval Teutonic thrash with the sinister vocals, for fans of In the Sign of Evil and Endless Pain, with some perhaps more pronounced black metal rasps that would keep them current with their Norse and Swedish peers of the time. But the riff structures here seem like they leap forth from the inspiration of "Riot of Violence' or "Total Desaster", not so much of the driven, supremely sinister Slayer in terms of riffing strength or diabolic harmonies, but rough and tumble with frilly licks and tin-can crashing drums that give it a real street vibe, knuckle-dusting the listener into some heaps of offal and refuse in some dimly lit pile of garbage bags.

To that extent, it's got a cool primacy to it that would set up the framework for their first two full lengths. The hellish energy is legit, although I don't think I ever found the riffs themselves to be as resilient or memorable as those they'd write later on. In fact, in today's saturated scene of blackened speedsters, Dreams Like Deserts would seem rather average, but it was in fact well ahead of the trend that would follow, and the few atmospheric moments it has like the intro to "The Rape" with its bass grooves reminiscent of Voivod, or the thundering bridge of "Forlorn Blessings to the Dreamking" do help to distinguish it slightly from being too generic. A fiery start, though this is admittedly the Aura Noir recording I return to the least whenever I'm seeking my fix, with some of its influences a little too much on its razored-up sleeves, like having a song titled "Angel Ripper".

Verdict: Win [7/10]

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Arcturus - Arcturian (2015)

Arriving a decade after Sideshow Symphonies, I recall Arcturian being a relief for me, as I felt I might never hear from this Norse supergroup again, its members so involved with other projects that saw a more direct level of success. When this finally showed up, I was instantly smitten, as it sounded like the band hadn't skipped one scatterbrained beat, with material just as wild, varied and weird as La masquerade infernale or its 2005 predecessor, only catchier like the records I greatly preferred throughout their career (The Sham Mirrors). It's another fusion of black metal, classical influences, and experimentation, but matured and really well balanced to appeal to fans of all their catalogue, with little nods here or there to particular tracks or records from the past, but still feeling forward, grasping at new tricks as early as the tubahorn that blares through the opener "The Arcturian Sign".

And though that's probably my least favorite tune on the album, it's still an intense exhibition of the members' individual chops, like Hellhammer's percussive flexing and ICS Vortex' yowling, atop the sinister symphonic swells that tether it to the genre that birthed it. The songcraft dramatically improves with the lush, swirling "Crashland" and its beautiful strings, or "Warp" which sends the band out across the universe with its infusion of beats, ambiance, and weird sci-fi keyboard sounds, something that was surely hinted at through lyrics and tunes in the past, but here becomes the most apparent. "The Journey" goes even more electronica with those continued seasonings of world music, multi-instrumentation and odd but soothing whispers and choirs that stretch across the atmosphere like a membrane. There are even tunes here like "Archer" or "Pale" that wouldn't have seemed out of place on the debut album, so it's quite cool how this feels like an ouroboros that hears the band swallowing its own tail once venturing past its own brain area.

The instrumentation is supreme, from the little blitzes of flagellant leads to the stark orchestration and aforementioned drumming that is at times as fast and hard-hitting as anything else HH has performed. The production is airy but clear, capturing both the depths of space and the Renaissance quirkiness the group seems to shift between. There's still a little bit of the goofiness you'd expect, particularly in Vortex's vocals and the carnival-like structure of the closer "Bane", but it never pushes it too far so that it takes over the more serious side, it's more cynical than silly. This was just an awesome comeback, the first year or so I might have considered it their best work, but I think The Sham Mirrors still holds that honor, with this a worthy second. Sadly, the band has taken another ten year hiatus from the studio by this time, but they've stuck around for some great live performances, and there are buzzings of new material to come. If that's going to be the cycle, where I get new Arcturus every decade, then I suppose I'll take it.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.25/10]

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Atrophy - Asylum (2024)

80s thrash metal reunions have reached the point of inevitability by now, and really over the last decade or so, but when some bands decide to give it another go, it feels like they haven't skipped a beat, where some others have attempted to modernize themselves in unflattering ways and evade the reason we heshers enjoyed them in the first place. Arizona's Atrophy, a really strong band across their first two efforts Socialized Hate and Violent by Nature, have fortunately fallen into the first of those categories, with a sound here that feels as if this album had dropped around 1992-93 as thrash declined, stubbornly loyal and aggressive to a fault. My first few spins of the record, I was impressed with the level of energy and strict adherence to their style, but the songs didn't stick out to me as much as their earlier material when I was a teenager.

That has changed in the intervening months, and it's grown on me to a degree, just because of the sheer tenacity of the material. There's not a lot separating this from the old days, largely mid-to-fast paced rhythm guitar-driven punishment with a Bay Area sound mirroring Testament and Forbidden, the one exception might be a little more of a melodic, dramatic vibe in some of the leads. Brian Zimmerman's crunchy, memorable delivery is still the central foundation upon which all this thrives, he's always had sort of a nastier, back alley Chuck Billy intonation and that has not changed, he delivers plenty of grit and his very presence keeps anything from becoming too sterile or polished. I'm also blown away that the rest of the band is all new, but they just nail the precision and playing of their predecessors. There was clearly every intention of making this as close to the source as possible, and they studied well. A few little glints of modernization can be noticed through the production, but everything from the guitar tones to the drumming style is reflective of where they left with the Roadracer discs. Hell, I think the cleaner vocal and acoustic at the very finale of "Close My Eyes" stood out all the more by it.

For me it works the best when you've got that little bit of reverb on Brian's voice, the delivery is so powerful especially when it's followed by some lead guitar that tears through the atmosphere. The lyrics are no-nonsense social and political rantings which were always at the core of the style, but not written in some reckless way, they champion the anti-establishment, anti-corporate, anti-war themes which are just as relevant today as four decades ago when punk and trad metal spawned this hybrid. It's all hammering, intense, and proficiently written, and really so consistent that it's difficult to pick out high or low points as there's such an even distribution over the 44 minutes. I will maintain that the choruses and riffs don't quite embed themselves into my brain as they once did, but as I listen through this it's engaging, entertaining and there are few flaws to point at. A solid reunion effort that gets back to what was important, and perhaps now that they've settled back into this they can come up with a blazing set of tunes to rival their early years. Well met, and welcome back.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

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Arcturus - Shipwrecked in Oslo (2014)

Arcturus was one of the bands that put on a pretty sweet live-set stream during the COVID 2020 period, something I really appreciated in those times as an example of bands thinking of their fans and trying to keep that interchange and communication together in the face of the uncertain. I'd not gotten to see them in concert before (still haven't), so it was at that point I decided to check out their earlier live album, at least the audio component taken from the Season of Mist DVD back in 2006. It turns out that Shipwrecked in Oslo is quite a substantial tour through the band's catalogue with around 80-90 minutes of material captured on a single CD (or the two-LP variant). This was the Sideshow Symphonies lineup for the band, with ICS Vortex instead of Rygg, and it holds pretty too with the overall atmosphere and tone on that studio record.

But yeah, they bust out a lot of material off most of their records to that point, with only Aspera Hiems Symfonia underrepresented via "Raudt og svart" at the tail end of the track list. It's great to hear favorites like "Ad Absurdum", "Nightmare Heaven" and "Painting My Horror" represented, and all of them sound as bright and detailed as they do in their studio incarnations. Sometimes frightfully so, played so cleanly that it occasionally feels like someone might be blasting the studio album over the loudspeaker without the vocal track and then having Simen go wild over it. His take on most of the earlier tracks is pretty close to his predecessor, but his voice definitely waves a lot here, as he's getting more emotional or aggressive on a lot of the lines. It does sound somewhat corny in spots, but then again, so did Garm on a lot of the studio originals, and I don't think the vocals ever become a detraction, he's just having a lot of fun with a band that has such a wild mesh of styles to begin with. Something else unique here are the solos, Steinar doing a sweeping classical piano piece, Tore an atmospheric guitar bit that sounds like Eric Johnson, and Knut deciding to go for a more brooding ambient interlude, which might seem pretty bland and minimalist next to Tore's, but I actually appreciate they tried to make these all sound so different.

Of course, these are just distractions against what everyone really came to hear, the album originals, which are all delivered with the grandeur and weird cosmic circus pomp that you'd expect. The electronics and symphonics both blend in seamlessly with the more acoustic impact of the drums and guitars, Simen sitting just perfectly in the mix, loud and distinct but even at his most spontaneous he's never drowning out the rest. I'd have probably preferred 1-2 more early tunes than some of the stuff off Sideshow Symphonies, but it's still a strong enough, professional set that makes me want to check them out if they're ever passing through New England in the future. Not the most exciting or explosive live you'll encounter, but a strong representation.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

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Arcturus - Sideshow Symphonies (2005)

Sideshow Symphonies is one of those rare records that, for whatever reason, I have occasionally forgotten about. Part of that might be that I wasn't hooked with it nearly as much as its predecessor, or maybe there was just an influx of new metal I loved around that 2005-2006 era; In fact, I think it's probably a combination of these factors. I'd liken it to ANOTHER 2005 record, Sigh's Gallows Gallery, which is also playing as an avant-garde/progressive style derived from the black metal niche; but where that one still hasn't ever connected with me, the Arcturus has slowly become a more appreciated part of their canon, in combining a lot of elements of prior albums Aspera Hiems Symfonia, La Masquerade Infernale and The Sham Mirrors into a more familiar, if less adventurous work, and while it doesn't stand out to me as much as its neighbors, it is certainly going to scratch the itch when you're pining for their particular sound.

The album's just as detailed and intricate as the two before it, with a lot of variety pasted atop a slick prog metal foundation. Scathing licks and savage drumming support sweltering atmospheres, sizzling synth lines that are often shredding more than any of the guitars. A major change here is that Simen/ICS Vortex has taken over the lead vocal duty from Jester/Garm, and he expands his forebear's intonations out with that memorable, yodeling pitch. If you've enjoyed any of his records with Borknagar than I think this is a pretty solid parallel, only its nature-worship is devoted more to the cosmic carnival this band manifests more so than the fjords and forests. Though they're constantly glazed by the symphonic keyes of Steinar Sverd, I feel as if there's a stronger metallic presence through the guitars than some of the other albums, or at least on par with any of them. There's still an air of mystique captured through the riffing patterns, but at the same time I feel like this is the 'safest' of their albums, in that it doesn't really step forward as much as any of those that were written before it. Performance-wise, though, Sideshow Symphonies proves just as technical and practiced as nearly anything else its members have ever releases in their myriad projects.

The production here is also one degree above The Sham Mirrors or La Masquerade Infernale, with all of those aforementioned intricacies captured at consistent levels. The thin pinch of the guitars manages to balance off well against the airy soundscapes swaddling the keyboards, and everything is crystal clear, working wonders for the natural contrast between the busyness of the instruments and the folksy melodic primacy of Simen's vocals. Purely symphonic pieces, like the intro to "Evacuation Code Deciphered", sound lush, and yes, this album has a lot of those cool three-world titles that Dimmu Borgir was often using throughout the 90s and 00s. "Hibernation Sickness Complete", "Shipwrecked Frontier Pioneer", "Nocturnal Vision Revisited", they're all over the place, and it makes this record seem like it's some kind of prognard sibling to Death Cult Armageddon. In fact, if you want a lighter touch to that symphonic surge, or you're into the stuff Ihsahn was starting to create post-Emperor, or of course Borknagar, Enslaved, Solefald, Winds and Age of Silence, this one's worth having around. It's still, for me, the least memorable full-length they've dropped, the highs are just not the heights of those before and after, but it's an immersive enough listen from a band that has yet to land a dud on me.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

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Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors (2002)

 My favorite of the Arcturus records, The Sham Mirrors takes on a sort of opposite side of the coin to La Masquerade Infernale. Where that sophomore possessed a sort of oafish charm to its experimentation (for better or worse), this one is every bit as varied, yet it's got a much more serious artistry about it, a perfect fit to its lyrical insinuations both social and cosmic. This also embraces the more atmospheric, melodic black metal of the debut and mixes that back into the weirder leanings they went on to pursue, and even the electronics of Disguised Masters find a suitable purpose where they are chosen to appear. Ultimately, this album is an adventure, captivating throughout its 43 minute run-time, with highlights and surprises found in each of the seven tracks. Does it still resemble Norway's Mr. Bungle? To an extent, but only in how smoothly the musicians can capture all these stylistic transitions into a coherent package, to the point that they seem as if they always belonged together.

"Kinetic" is a great opening piece, with a nearly even distribution between choppy metal guitars, circus symphonic, loads of electronic beats and samples, proggy bass lines, and a melodic chorus to die for, which would have been a hit on any more mainline black metal band's record. Rygg's vocals are still just as quirky as the past records, but they're not mixed to go far over the top into self-parody, and I also love how they've sniped in a lot of the harmonies. "Nightmare Heaven" gives you this piano and vocal-driven set up, complete with guitar melodies, only to transform into this unforgettable, quivering trip hop joint which might have appeared on a Silent Hill soundtrack. "Ad Absurdum" is another track that feels an evolution directly from Aspera Hiems Symfonia, packed with percussion real and programmed, spacey and eerie melodic chords, and a blissful bridge. I'm not going track-by-track through the whole thing, but it's an absolute banger...again, put something like "Collapse Generation" on Dimmu Borgir's Enthrone Darkness Triumphant and a much wider audience would have drooled over it. This is an absolute case of taking a step backwards and forward at the same time, and whether the band is conjuring up a symphonic BM storm or a keyboard lullaby, it all fits.

The production here is where a little of the polish comes off. It's trying to juggle a lot of instruments, effects and ideas together, and to its credit makes a lot of that clear, but there are some places where the swarthier rhythm guitar distortion seems a little too crunchy, or the drums get too machinelike where they would have benefited from an organic touch. Still exceptional enough for what it's pulling off in the early new millennium, and there's a later remaster on Prophecy Productions which tweaks it a little for the better, but if there are imperfections to be had, several of them are the mix. This album is so fucking good, with so many memorable moments, like Ihsahn's guest vocalist in "Radical Cut" or the frilly haunted carnival synthesizers of "For to End Yet Again", that it can be forgiven any of these minor transgressions, because it's just something so ahead of its time and yet never heard since, a distinct and unique hybrid musical lingo that you only hear from all these proggy weirdos birthed from the church burning scene. May their tongues speak it forever.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10]

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Arcturus - Disguised Masters (1999)

What way to better champion your newfound eclecticism than the obligatory 'remix' album? Disguised Masters is not built entirely of such distractions, but much of its playtime is devoted to versions of tracks off La Masquerade Infernale injected with drum & bass, industrial, looping, and other electronic mediums that were so popular throughout the 90s. On one hand, their material lends itself well enough to casting the widest net possible, it's not as if they hadn't (and wouldn't) incorporate this stuff straight onto their originals, but unfortunately this record suffers where many of its kind do...just because you 'can', doesn't mean you 'should', and the practice rarely translates into anything justifiable or memorable enough here that I've ever wanted to spin back through it. That's not to say this is some immature, amateur bout with the techniques, but just not very impactful even if you're compelled by the idea of such already gonzo tracks being reshuffled into some fractured dancehall of the imagination.

I suppose the two new originals here would provide the biggest carrot on its stick, but the intro "White Tie Black Noise" is just a swell of ambiance that ties into "Deception Genesis", a track that admittedly does feel like a B-side off La Masquerade, with a sort of progressive dark trip hop vibe which wouldn't have been out of place on Ulver's electronic records. In fact if you just line up the timing, this seems like it was Rygg's headspace for most of his projects, and it could just as easily fall under the catalogue of one as the other. There is a bit of mystique to this one, I like the bass grooves, the little sweeps of strings and the creepy narrated vocals, plus you get a little guitar in its depths. The odd re-imagining of "Du Nordavind" is also pretty interesting, a more frightening, noisy carnival version from the older album. Beyond this, though, I found very little consistency in the remixes. The 'G. Wolf Levitation Mix' of "Painted by Horror" has some nice, clunking percussion and eeriness about its dark ambient thrums, but it just never adds up to much after the first few moments. There's an ensemble/classical re-recording of "Ad Astra" which is also quite soothing, where the 'Magenta Experience' remix is just kinda cheesy beats being layered onto it.

I do think that the hybridization of forms here, like neo-classical ambient to jungle was pretty novel for this period, but it might have been better served for another project of perhaps a full-length where it was used more in new originals than chunks of earlier songs. It's pretty clear that Arcturus got the hint, since they implemented similar ideas so tastefully and sparingly into the full-length after this, but as it stands, Disguised Masters is a not-unpleasant but unnecessary excursion into the collective mindset of a band already on the fringe of its genre, trying to transmogrify onto the fringes of other adjacent sounds that were fomenting in the same era. Lots of good individual beats and grooves, little direction. The low point in their canon, but not irredeemably so.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

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Arcturus - La Masquerade Infernale (1997)

If the masks, costumes and title don't tip you off, La Masquerade Infernale is the point when Arcturus decided to widen the net of their already expansive influences, and transform into a sort of oddity that dwells in that tent on the edge of the Norwegian carnival. Within moments, there's already a massive amount of experimentation and stylistic deviation from the previous album which is simultaneously jarring and compelling. There is still a sense of the same structure, the band largely lopes along at a slow to mid pace through the tracks, but that wintry atmosphere prevalent on Aspera has been replaced with a strange amalgamation of a dance hall, an Edgar Allen Poe story and a demonic ballroom serving the nobility on some random plane of Hell.

The first track alone, "Master of Disguise" has programmed breakbeats, numerous vocal layers including Rygg's wavering Gothic tones and ICS Vortex's yodeling guest spots, and lots of details and nuances above the rhythmic skeleton of an Aspera tune. Add to that a shredding lead, much proggier bass lines from Hugh Mingay, and a whole squad of guests performing traditional instruments, even the alumni Carl Tidemann pops in for a track (although he has stepped down for Knut Valle.) It's goofy as balls, but also pretty impressive in how the band has committed to this stranger, chamber-music style. That's not to say they don't drift backwards at times towards the gracefulness of the earlier material, as in "Ad Astra" with its great strings and atmosphere, or "Alone" which is probably the hardest hitting 'metal' track which sounds a little like Rygg-fronted Borknagar, but also the one tune here which seems like it fills in the 'missing link' between the members' black metal roots and the style adopted for Arcturus.

It also gets a little more frightening and exotic than its predecessor in tunes like "Painting My Horror", controlled bursts of chaos mixed in with graceful harmonies between the guitars and synths, but therein also lies one of the flaws I have with this one. The music is often brilliant, but the vocals, especially those in the mid-range, just come across as goofy as some of Vintersorg's lines when he was in Otyg. It's like some goofy drunken Goth rocker stepped into the sessions, and the tragedy is that Garm blends this with more effective, acidic delivery in "Of Nails and Sinner" and that style clearly wins out against that deeper tone. I love the bass, the drumming, the symphonics and guitars throughout almost the whole thing, the ICS vortex vocals in "The Chaos Path" are awesome, and there's no question that this is perhaps the most visionary leap they took in their career, but it's tarnished by just enough absurdity that it took me some time to really appreciate.

These days I do find myself enjoying it more often than not, but I can't help but consider it a blueprint for what would instantly become my favorite Arcturus. The image thing got a little weird, where their contemporaries The Kovenant (also featuring Hellhammer) would transform from start symphonic black metal hopefuls into the weird scraps left on the floor of a Marilyn Manson backstage dressing room, this was more of an avant-garde/historical/cabaret thing that they'd maintain, a little classier but just as necessary. The music speaks for itself, and indeed, most of La Masquerade Infernale does. I just think it could have used some select editing, especially in some of the vocal lines.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

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