Ege Özgün (PHYS/PhD)
ozgun@fen.bilkent.edu.tr
Recently, Arcturus streamed their their new song “The Arcturian Sign” (TAS) from their upcoming album “Arcturian.” This will be their first release since “Sideshow Symphonies” (SS) of 2005, ending a 10-year hiatus.
Arcturus is among the few bands that can get me excited just by announcing that they are releasing something new. This excitement was doubled when I actually listened to the song. To be honest, my expectations were not really sky high before listening to the song, but now, after hearing it, I can say that if the rest of the album is on a par with TAS, “Arcturian” is a strong candidate for the top album of not only this year, but the last 10 years.
The song opens with a nice electronic sample, and then, one by one, signature Arcturus riffs and song structures start to unfold. This is a 100 percent Arcturus song. You can take any of the instrument parts (I’m not even saying the vocal part, since vocals by Simen Hestnæs, a.k.a. Vortex, are so unique that it is impossible to misidentify them), and listening to each one separately, you can determine that this is definitely Arcturus.
Coming back to the song, it can be said that it sounds like a blend of “The Sham Mirrors” (TSM) and “Sideshow Symphonies.” Sverd contributes guitar work together with his keyboard duties, and Knut Magne Valle’s unique guitar riffing is of course present as usual. The genius of Hellhammer’s drum work is unquestionable; he is one of the most significant session musicians in the metal scene. Skoll’s bass playing has never been in the foreground but has instead complemented the work of his bandmates, a situation that remains true in TAS.
There is general discontent about the mixing of the song, which I am having a really hard time understanding. In my humble opinion, the mixing of the song is excellent. It reflects Arcturus’s musical mentality exactly: completely free ideas, combined with musicianship and strong, innovative song structures. The main concern about the mixing seems to be that the drums (especially the kicks) do not sound good. Well, I’m sorry, but those who say this must be tone deaf. Of course everyone has their own musical taste, but it’s impossible to call the mixing of this song bad; someone might say, “It’s not my cup of tea,” but otherwise they’re talking nonsense.
Now, let’s move on to Vortex. He is one of my all-time favorite vocalists. He joined Arcturus in SS, but he had already contributed to songs in the previous records TSM and “La Masquerade Infernale.” I don’t really know how much better his voice can get, but it has continued to sound more impressive in each of the records he has sung on for different projects. I have the theory that Arcturus members, without realizing it, are composing songs as if Garm were going to sing them, as he in fact used to. In SS, this created problems in some places, since Garm’s and Vortex’s registers are quite different (although even so, Vortex can successfully sing most of Garm’s songs with both Borknagar and Arcturus). In the case of TAS, it still sounds like the song was composed for Garm, but this time Vortex presents an even more stunning performance, so that you might think his voice also projects the sense of Garm’s.
Finally, to give a brief idea about Arcuturus’s style (I think I talked about them in a previous column), they have black metal roots, which can sometimes be spotted, but they also have a sci-fi feeling, emanating from the electronic samples sprinkled between the avant-garde-sounding, cleverly written riffs and the poetry-like lyrics: i.e., they achieve perfection through avant-garde experimentation. May 8 is the release date for “Arcturian,” and until then, you can enjoy TAS. Stay connected to music.