New Album 2011
When I used to think of Arckanum, I mostly thought of “that silly video of a man with a plague mask walking around in a forest which got featured in the 10 most ridiculous black metal videos” (Gava van Trulen). While Arckanum is so much more than that, and has most certainly evolved a lot since then, this evolution was lost on me until I got my hands on “Helvítismyrkr”, Johan Lahger’s latest album. I was not expecting to be blown away by what could very well end up being one of the best black metal releases of this year. The opener “Helvitt” starts with a thick guitar riff that transcends into something wicked as Lahger opens his mouth and the drums kick in. It sets the mood for the entire album perfectly. While the music is still unmistakably quite raw, the production on this record is very clear, and that is definitely a rewarding factor, because all layers of the music become visible. The music is fast, and while the guitar melodies are not complicated, the mix makes it so that each melody sticks, it could almost be called catchy, even if that is a rather blasphemous term when it comes to black metal. Lyrically it deals with the Nordic god Hel, the daughter of the trickster Loki and giantess Angrboða. A common mistake, because of this lyrical theme is to call Arckanum pagan black metal. While the songs have to do with mythology, Lahger is no pagan himself. He is a practicing chaos-gnostic, like Erik Danielson of Watain. Chaos gnostic followers are Satanists that wish to return to a pre-creation world, a world that has never felt the hand of God, the oppressor of their high lord: Satan. I’m guessing that since Chaos theory is an omnipresent theme in all of Arckanum’s releases, Lahger decided to dedicate this album to Hel, because Hel’s lair, the underworld, is as close to the pre-creation Chaos that we will ever come. In any case, Helvítismyrkr is a bit of a repetitive album, but that’s what makes it so good. It is hard to say something about each song separately because they are all very well conducted in the same way, it makes the album a solid unit that keeps lingering in your head for days after you’ve first listened to it. The riffs are all memorable, “Nifldreki” and “Svartr ok Þursligr” in particular, and each song does contain a couple of surprises in the form of an additional violin at times and variations in tempo, that sets it apart from the others. Arckanum shows that with this album they still very much belong in the contemporary black metal world alongside the more “modern” black metal bands such as Watain and Valkyrja. And even for listeners that care naught for the Chaos theory that is woven into the lyrics (which are in Old Icelandic contrary to the Old Swedish that Lahger normally wrote in, so most people wouldn’t be able to decipher them any way) this is still a very enjoyable record.
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