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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