Band:	Arcturus
Album:	The Sham Mirrors
Style:	Avantgarde metal
Release date:	April 29, 2002
A review by:	KwonVerge

01. Kinetic
02. Nightmare Heaven
03. Ad Absurdum
04. Collapse Generation
05. Star-Crossed
06. Radical Cut
07. For To End Yet Again

Arcturus? Maybe the best band coming from Norway; the proof is obvious when you listen to their compositions, read their lyrics, when you become one with their artistic concerns while following their conjectural manoeuvres in the dark. After the dark feeling of "Aspera Hiems Symfonia" and the intellectual darkness of "La Masquerade Infernale" Arcturus with "The Sham Mirrors" take us on an intergalactic journey to the stars, to the infinite wisdom of the almighty universe through chaos and feelings never felt before, through a "nightmare heaven" to a "collapse generation".

Garm sounding so bizarre yet great and various as never before, Sverd through his astral projections evoking visions of the universe in front of the very eyes of the listener, Hellhammer surpassing the speed of light in an aenaon course among the galaxies and Valle and Gravem holding with their guitar and bass guitar playing, holding the edges of a "star-crossed" universe. The black metal days have passed, yet the essence is still alive through the Norwegian riffing at times. Art metal is what Arcturus play, art metal with all the meaning that define such a powerful word, "art". Are you ready to stare at "the sham mirrors" of the universe, to cherish the wisdom of a time when only the stars could see? Are you ready to embrace the infinite chaos of the sober universe and dwell among the mysteries of a foreign place on a foreign time? Press the play button and change dimension?

?"Kinetic", Sverd's keyboard ideas and the sequencer's effects slowly and steadily transport you to a place where "light has departed from this black sun" and the messenger of this dark new era is Garm Trickster with his mesmerizing vocals! And the journey goes on reaching a "Nightmare Heaven" where the melodies of the distorting stars in the everlasting space echo through Sverd's keyboard melodies and the guitar's solos and ideas and of course Garm's unearthly unequalled voice!

"Ad Absurdum" continues the astral journey in a heavier yet so expressive and theatrical way to reach the "Collapse Generation" where you lose yourself in a whirling wind to reach for a few moments a place of peace and then the storm continues raging on?

?And then there was silence, a sweet piano melody follows? "Star-Crossed", filled with the calmness of the universe, a tranquil atmosphere with some heavier and bizarre out-breaks. A black metal cosmic storm rages on, "Radical Cut", with Ihsahn howling and the Arcturus' dramatic personas accompanying him, where Sverd paints the pallet of the full of stars sky with universal colors!

"For to end yet Again" ends the astral journey leaving behind a bittersweet taste of the end? Passing through black holes and reaching moments of tranquility this ten-minute opus and so the whole journey through "The Sham Mirrors" of universe, reaches its end? Yet, as long as the universe will keep on standing the journey will keep on going?

Tranquility and solitude among the stars:
"Nevermind take this lamp we are beyond light?"