I remember it feeling like a bit of a mess at first, but only because I was unacclimated to the sound compared to something more scathingly sinister and serious like In the Nightside Eclipse. It's obvious from the start that Arcturus were more interested in slowing things down, giving them an operatic sweep and bombast, while integrating Hellhammer's driving double bass and some simpler Samoth rhythm guitars that helped support Sverd's symphonics. Speaking of which, a lot of this EP could almost be considered a more heavily orchestrated alternative to the formative dungeon synth of Mortis, filtered through a slowly spinning Gothic carousel. The synth tones are bright against the roiling rhythms, the piano lines graceful and eerie, but all well-enough executed to make this stand out against everything else going on in their scene at the time. The other truly distinct ingredient is the performance of Kristoffer Rygg, whose quirky mix of howls, chants and rasp were a preamble to a lot of the experimentation he'd later explore with Ulver, as well as the folksier vocal side of groups like Borknagar, Solefald and Enslaved, who would all follow comparably progressive (and weird) paths to this group, with mutual members cross-pollinating ideas in the process.
It's a delightful enough adventure on its own, but Constellation does suffer one crippling deficiency for me, in that I greatly prefer the re-recordings of these tracks on their full-length debut. They're all largely the same, with the exception that "Icebound Streams and Vapours Gray" was renamed to "Wintry Grey" (an inferior title) and Carl August Tidemann's guitar recording sounds a little more nuanced, intricate and atmospheric than Samoth's originals (still giving credit to the man where it's due). Garm's presence also comes across a little more bizarre and memorable there, and an airiness is infused throughout that session which slightly better matches the aurora lighting on the cover arts. That said, if you can grab the reissues of this EP with all the bonus material, including the crude and creepy "My Angel", which feels like a more industrial/electronic spin on the style they composed here, and "Morax", a much heavier tune with a sort of raw blackened/doom vibe, you'll eke out a little more value than just the four core tracks that are better represented two years later. Either way, Constellation is the first mile of a trip towards excellence, but not without some bumps on the road.
Verdict: Win [7/10] (Hither-whirling, thither-swirling)
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