Antikosmos

My knowledge of Arckanum is quite limited, I downloaded Kostogher awhile back under the guise that it was one of the best black metal albums in awhile. I was not very impressed with it, which is largely due to the weak and quiet production. To say the least, that problem is not present at all on Antikosmos, in fact the production is very strong and gives the album a very powerful feeling to it.

Arckanum plays a very sturdy brand of black metal that, to me, seems to lack many of today's modern trends in regards to black metal. I really appreciate Arckanum for this reason, while the band is not breaking any new ground, it is completely all its own. Strong production well composed songs, above average musicianship (especially for a one man black metal band) and an overall genuineness that seems to be so hard to find in the midst of all these "super kvlt" or "suicidal" black metal bands sells this album for me.

Shamaatae does an excellent job of creating strong riffs, some of which are catchy and melodic, while others are perfect for heading banging. Songs are composed in a manner where the riffs and the vocals are the focus, but the drums do a great job in following in sync with the riffs and are played quite well. Song structured is varied enough to contain plenty of fast tremolo and blast beats, to slower build-ups, and to even some midpaced and heavy tracks that showcase an extremely crunchy guitar and some nice guitar work. Songs like Nákjeptir and Formála are able to slow things down and where speed is scarified heaviness is enforced. The buildups in opening track are phenomenal.

Overall this album seems to be much in the vein of Kostogher, simply more mature and better produced. It is nice to listen to a band that, on pen and paper sounds pretty generic, but is an entity all of its own when finally heard. This is a powerful and well rounded album and inspires me to check out more of Shamaatae's work.

The album also happens to start off (and end) with a really cool, dark, and ominous chant/ambient clip that sounds like the words Fenris, and Ragnarok are mentioned behind some foreboding sounds.

This is a great album and surprisingly heavy for a black metal band that has no touches of death metal. The vocals in Swedish are a big plus for me too, sounds really viscous. Defiantly buy this if you can.