Arcturus (band)
| Arcturus | |
|---|---|
 Arcturus at the Party.San 2016 |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Norway |
| Genre (s) | Black Metal , Dark Metal , Progressive Metal |
| founding | 1987 (as Mortem), 2011 |
| resolution | 2007 |
| Current occupation | |
| Simen "ICS Vortex" Hestnæs | |
| Knut Magne Valle | |
| Hugh Mingay | |
| Steinar "Sverd" Johnsen | |
| Jan Axel "Hellhammer" Blomberg | |
| former members | |
singing |
Kristoffer Rygg |
singing |
Øyvind Hægeland |
guitar |
Carl August Tidemann |
guitar |
Thomas Thormodsæter "Samoth" Haugen |
guitar |
Tore Moren |
bass |
Dag F. Gravem |
Bass, vocals |
Marius Vold |
Arcturus is a Norwegian metal band that was formed in 1987 under the name Mortem. In 1990, the band changed its name to Arcturus (the Latin name of a star in the constellation Bootes , see Arcturus ). Over the years members of Mayhem , Emperor , Ulver and Dimmu Borgir were involved in the band .
On April 17, 2007, the band officially announced their breakup, but got back together in 2011. A line-up under the name Mortem was reformed in 2018.
history
Starts as a Mortem
Marius Vold, Steinar "Sverd" Johnsen and Jan Axel "Hellhammer" Blomberg founded the band Mortem in 1987. The only publication of this band was one of Mayhem guitar-player Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth produced demo recording entitled Slow Death , which first on cassette and in 1989 by the French label Putrefaction Records on 7 "- EP was released.
First publications as Arcturus
In 1990 the band was renamed Arcturus. The first EP My Angel was recorded with the original Mortem line-up and released in 1991 via Putrefaction Records. For this EP, Sverd also recorded keyboard in addition to guitar . After that, the band activities initially rested, as Vold left and founded the band Stigma Diabolicum with Snorre Ruch , and Johnsen was no longer interested in playing the guitar, but preferred to concentrate on the keyboards.
In 1993 the band recruited Tomas "Samoth" Haugen from Emperor as their new guitarist and Kristoffer "Garm" Rygg from Ulver as their new singer. The band recorded their second EP Constellation and released it through Samoth's record label Nocturnal Art; the EP was only intended to promote the planned album and was therefore limited to 500 copies. Samoth left the band in 1994 on prison sentence and other musical priorities. He was replaced by Carl August Tidemann , and together with the Ulver bassist Hugh Steven James "Skoll" Mingay , the debut album Aspera hiems symfonia was recorded. After the recordings Tidemann got out again, he was replaced by Knut Magne Valle . The album consisted of revised material from the Constellation EP and new, English-language songs. It was published by Ancient Lore Creations and in the US as a licensed press by Century Media . In autumn 1995 the band gave a concert to mark the release of the album.
Inclusion of progressive and experimental style elements
At the end of 1996, the recordings for the concept album La Masquerade Infernale began and they lasted almost six months. A string quartet performed and Simen "ICS Vortex" Hestnæs as a guest singer . Six of the pieces were remixed in 1999 and released on Disguised Masters along with a new recording and a new song .
It wasn't until 2000 that Arcturus became active again and began recording their next album, The Sham Mirrors , which was released in April 2002 via Ad Astra Enterprises. The album was licensed to Prophecy Productions for the German-speaking countries and The End Records for the USA. It was recorded again with a different line-up, now with Dag F. Gravem as bassist. This line-up was supplemented by Hugh Mingay, Vegard “Ihsahn” Tveitan (Emperor) and the horn player Mathias Eick as guest musicians. Arcturus achieved a position in the Finnish charts with the album.
In the same year, Candlelight Records released newly mastered versions of My Angel , Constellation and Aspera hiems symfonia on a double CD as well as the previously unreleased songs The Deep Is the Skies and Cosmojam .
Rygg's exit and dissolution
Kristoffer Rygg left the band in 2003 and was replaced by Øyvind Hægeland from Spiral Architect . In the same year the band performed with him at the Southern Discomfort Festival in Kristiansand and the Hole in the Sky in Bergen, in 2004 Arcturus played on a short tour in Hungary, Germany, Italy and Greece. Hægeland left the band due to work commitments in the same year; his successor was Simen Hestnæs. In December 2004 the band went back into the studio to produce their next album. In January 2005 she first appeared live with Hestnæs; The fourth studio album Sideshow Symphonies was released in September , followed by a European tour in October. The first concert before the start of this tour took place on September 24th at Rockefeller in Oslo and was recorded for a live DVD released in May 2006 . This is called Shipwrecked in Oslo , which alludes to the song Shipwrecked Frontier Pioneer from the album Sideshow Symphonies .
As it became known on April 17, 2007, singer Simen Hestnæs announced the end of the band at a performance in Melbourne with the words "Welcome to the last show ever of Arcturus!" The band published a statement on their homepage that this decision had been made some time before, as the members would not have the time to continue Arcturus' due to further commitments in their careers and lives.
return
After his split from Dimmu Borgir, Hestnæs announced in September 2009 that he would speak to the other former Arcturus members about reuniting the band. A year later he announced that he wanted to play the reunion show at the ProgPower USA Festival 2011, but later canceled the performance. In 2012 the band joined u. a. at the Inferno Metal Festival Norway and at the Hellfest -Festival, several other festival appearances followed in the years thereafter. In January 2013 Arcturus announced that a new album was planned, in January 2015 it was announced that it was finished. It was finally released under the title Arcturian on May 4, 2015 via Prophecy Productions.
Mortem 2018
The founding members Marius Vold and Steinar Johnson also formed a line-up in 2018 under the original band name Mortem, bassist Tor Stavenes von 1349 and drummer Jan Axel Blomberg. A festival appearance and an album for August and September 2019 were announced on social media. Ravnsvart appeared on Peaceville Records .
style
Mortem's musical style was based on death metal , and the band also played a slow, repetitive death metal style on the EP My Angel , which was recorded after the renaming . The Black Metal on Constellation and the debut album was symphonic and the lyrics were partly in Norwegian .
La Masquerade Infernale was a conceptual work on the subject of fist and in particular the role of Mephistopheles . The use of a string quartet and other classical instruments ( flute , French horn ) resulted in an independent theatrical style that led strongly away from Black Metal . Overall, the album is considered a classic of avant-garde metal; both the band itself and Archaon from 1349 described it as "insanely innovative". Disguised Masters contained classic, progressive, electronic and experimental remixes of La Masquerade Infernale .
Even the sham mirrors was once modern and unconventional, but was thoroughly bonds with the first album and more common progressive and black metal flows. Stylistically, the fourth studio album Sideshow Symphonies can be regarded as a relatively calm amalgamate of the three predecessors; Arcturian continued on this path, but it was harder and more varied again. Ravnsvart of the line-up under the name Mortem was stylistically based on Black Metal.
Discography
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Studio albums
- 1996: Aspera hiems symfonia
- 1997: La Masquerade Infernale
- 2002: The Sham Mirrors
- 2005: Sideshow Symphonies
- 2015: Arcturian
- 2019: Ravnsvart (as Mortem)
Compilations
- 1999: Disguised Masters (Remixes)
- 2002: Aspera hiems symfonia / Constellation / My Angel (compilation)
Live albums
- 2006: Shipwrecked in Oslo (Live-DVD)
EPs and demos
- 1989: Slow Death (Demo, as Mortem)
- 1990: Promo 90 (demo)
- 1991: My Angel (EP)
- 1994: Constellation (EP)
Web links
swell
- ↑ a b Home ( Memento from April 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ ICS Vortex in an interview with lordsofmetal.nl , accessed on October 19, 2012.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m History ( Memento from April 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ The True Mayhem . In: Jon Kristiansen : Metalion: The Slayer Mag Diaries . Brooklyn, NY: Bazillion Points Books 2011, p. 211.
- ↑ a b Norse Force . In: Jon Kristiansen : Metalion: The Slayer Mag Diaries . Brooklyn, NY: Bazillion Points Books 2011, p. 196.
- ↑ Thorns : Stigma Diabolicum (A5 Leatherbook version), Kyrck Productions 2007.
- ↑ The Sham Mirrors (album) in the Finnish charts.
- ↑ David Nagel: Dimmu Borgir: Vortex speaks up .
- ↑ Alexander van Stein: Arcturus: confirm reunion for 2011 , accessed on September 18, 2010
- ↑ Zhao: Arcturus - ProgPower USA Show Canceled , accessed October 19, 2012.
- ↑ Recording ( memento of the original from August 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on Arte
- ↑ New album in 2013 ... , facebook.com , accessed on April 28, 2013.
- ↑ The new album is finished \ ,, / , facebook.com , accessed February 15, 2015.
- ^ Anja Müller-Lochner: Black avant-garde . In: Metal Hammer . Axel Springer Mediahouse GmbH, Berlin May 2010, p. 66 .
- ↑ Chart sources: DE FI
