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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