Origin: Norway  
Genres: Black Metal
DISBANDED
Official Site
Last update/review: July 15, 2015

Arcturus

Featuring (at various times) members from bands such as Mayhem, Ulver, Emperor, and Dimmu Borgir, it's no wonder that Arcturus was once tabbed a black metal supergroup, though their recordings suggested they were far more than that. Aspera Hiems Symfonia, their 1996 debut full-length album, is still regarded as a classic symphonic black metal album, but it's the followup, La Masquerade Infernale, a truly unique, progressive, avant-garde art metal affair, that defined what this band was all about. Mixing carnivalesque narration-styled vocals and a host of odd influences, Masquerade set the bar for broadening the boundaries of what used to be a rather limiting genre. Their final two albums (not including the remix album Disguised Masters), combined the experimentalism of Masquerade with a more traditional symphonic black metal base, yet these albums, too, showed that the band was quite willing to take chances. Given that most of the guys had other band commitments, it's not too surprising that eventually it had to come to an end, the members announcing in April 2007 that they had no more time to commit to Arcturus.

Last Lineup

Simen Hestæs

vocals (Borknagar, ex-Dimmu Borgir, ICS Vortex)

Knut M. Valle

guitars

Skoll (Hugh Steven James Mingay)

bass (ex-Ulver, ex-Ved Buens Ende)

Steinar Sverd Johnsen

keyboards (ex-The Kovenant)

Hellhammer (Jan Axel Von Blomberg)

drums (guest for Dimmu Borgir, ex-Jorn, ex-The Kovenant, Mayhem, ex-Mezzerschmitt, ex-Thorns, ex-Troll, ex-Winds)

Former Members/Guests

Garm (Kristoffer Rygg)

vocals (ex-Borknagar, ex-Head Control System, Ulver)

Samoth (Tomas Haugen)

guitars (ex-Burzum, Emperor, ex-Gorgoroth, ex-Satyricon, Scum, The Wretched End, ex-Zyklon, ex-Zyklon-B)

Carl August Tidemann

guitars (ex-Winds)

Tore Moren

guitars (Jorn)

Dag F. Gravem

bass



Discography


Constellation  EP
1993
  1. Rodt Og Svart
  2. Icebound Streams and Vapours Grey
  3. Naar Kulda Tar (Frostnettens Prolog)
  4. Du Nordavind
  • Garm
  • Samoth
  • Steinar Sverd Johnsen
  • Hellhammer



Aspera Hiems Symfonia  
1996 Misanthropy
  1. To Thou Who Dwellest In The Night
  2. Wintry Gray
  3. Whence & Whither Goest The Wind
  4. Raudt Og Svart
  5. The Bodkin & The Quietus (...To Search The Stars)
  6. Du Nordavind
  7. Fall Of Man
  • Garm
  • Carl August Tidemann
  • Skoll
  • Steinar Sverd Johnsen
  • Hellhammer
1996 Readers' Album #34




La Masquerade Infernale  
1997 Misanthropy
  1. Master Of Disguise
  2. Ad Astra
  3. The Chaos Path
  4. La Masquerade Infernale
  5. Alone
  6. The Throne Of Tragedy
  7. Painting My Horror
  8. Of Nails And Sinners
  • Garm
  • Knut M. Valle
  • Skoll
  • Steinar Sverd Johnsen
  • Hellhammer
1997 Readers' Album #30




Disguised Masters  COMPILATION
1999 Jester
  1. White Tie Black Noise
  2. Deception Genesis
  3. Du Nordavind
  4. Alone
  5. The Throne Of Tragedy
  6. La Masquerade Infernale
  7. Master Of Disguise
  8. Painting My Horror
  9. Ad Astra
  10. Ad Astra



The Sham Mirrors  
2002 Ad Astra
  1. Kinetic
  2. Nightmare Heaven
  3. Ad Absurdum
  4. Collapse Generation
  5. Star-Crossed
  6. Radical Cut
  7. For To End Yet Again
  • Garm
  • Knut M. Valle
  • Dag F. Gravem
  • Steinar Sverd Johnsen
  • Hellhammer
2002 Readers' Album #16





Sideshow Symphonies  
2005 Season Of Mist
  1. Hibernation Sickness Complete
  2. Shipwrecked Frontier Pioneer
  3. Demon Painter
  4. Nocturnal Vision Revisited
  5. Evacuation Code Deciphered
  6. Moonshine Delirium
  7. White Noise Monster
  8. Reflections
  9. Hufsa
  • Simen Hestæs
  • Knut M. Valle
  • Tore Moren
  • Skoll
  • Steinar Sverd Johnsen
  • Hellhammer
2005 Readers' Album #30




Shipwrecked In Oslo  VIDEO
2006 Season Of Mist



Arcturian  
2015
  1. The Arcturian Sign
  2. Crashland
  3. Angst
  4. Warp
  5. Game Over
  6. Demon
  7. Pale
  8. The Journey
  9. Archer
  10. Bane
  • Simen Hestæs
  • Knut M. Valle
  • Skoll
  • Steinar Sverd Johnsen
  • Hellhammer




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