Artist: Arckanum
Title: Helvítismyrkr
Genre: Black Metal
Release Date: 16th September 2011
Label: Season Of Mist
Album Review
ARCKANUM makes its mark with its sixth full length album, still rooted in Norse lore mixed with at dark, Satanic atmosphere. Here, main man Shamaatae continues to follow the stories of the World Tree, this time writing a tribute to Hel, the Norse giantess. Like all of Shamaatae’s other albums, everything is written in Swedish, so there may be a bit of a language barrier present, but after hearing the music it might have not done much good to have the lyrics in English either. Much of ‘Helvítismyrkr’ is shrouded in distortion and full of tremolo picking at high speeds such as with ‘Myrkrin Vinna Hefnt’, which is the traditional take on older, paganized black metal with a cold, cult feeling to it. Sometimes the track will slow down for some lengthier, repetitive churns that help with the atmosphere, but pretty much everything is lost to the distortion, even Shamaatae’s vocal work which is a mid-paced snarl as opposed to highly annoying shriek.
Due to such a fast pace, there isn’t too much variation between the tracks, every once in a while, listeners can pick up subtleties between the songs. ‘In Svarta’ is perhaps the slowest song on the album, encroaching on blackened doom metal as it plods along for a darker tone than the rest of the other tracks. It serves as a great interlude on the album that is a bit repetitive as it keeps using the same three riffs over and over, so new listeners may get tired of it a lot quicker than others who are used to ARCKANUM’s style. ‘Þrúðgelmis Hlaut’ has a touch of older DEATHSPELL OMEGA to it with the tendency to merge fast with slower chords and having even rougher vocals that sound more evil than before, along with the slightly warped tone of the guitars that tend to jump all over the place. The only real downside to the album is the combination of the outro track. It starts out as some great black metal but then fades off into… nothing. Normally outros are supposed to include something but this is just emptiness. Whether it was a mistake or not, ARCKANUM would have done best to leave it off and end the album with ‘Sísoltinn’.
While ‘Helvítismyrkr’ may not be as diverse as other pagan black metal bands like PANOPTICON or early SATYRICON, much of Shaamatae’s genius can be accredited to the many years he spent away from the project before resurfacing with an album each year since 2009 to give a full retrospective. While some might consider he’s working too fast, basically producing the same material over and over with different stories to tell, this brand of black metal is dark, uncompromising, and especially intriguing since it has many mystical qualities regarding the atmosphere created by the distortion. The only major issue, again, is the language barrier that can come up but fortunately, there is Google translate for that. Most black metal fans will find this chilling and insidious while wrapped up in an old school tradition that doesn’t follow DARKTHRONE but is as gripping as a band like OLD WAINDS. Darkness comes across the land once more when hearing ARCKANUM.
Tracklist
01. Helvitt - 5:32
02. Myrkrin Vinna Hefnt - 4:59
03. Ór Djúpum - 4:55
04. In Svarta - 4:44
05. Nifldreki - 6:07
06. Svartr ok Þursligr - 4:50
07. Þrúðgelmis Hlaut - 4:37
08. Sísoltinn/ Outro - 13:18
Line-up
Shamaatae: all instruments and vocals
Website
www.arckanum.se
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 7
Sound: 7
Total: 7 / 10
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