It’s time to go back and dip into the wonderful world of everyone’s favourite one band troll, Shamaatae. After nothing more than splits and EPs he returned to full length album with last years ‘Antikosmos’ after a break of a decade between that and ‘Kampen.’ Obviously creativity is flowing rapidly as in under a year he is back with ‘ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ’ an album whose title and concept are obviously going to have to be partly explained before I get to the music. From what I understand this is based upon the giant Þjazi oft portrayed as a giant eagle. He had a tribe of ferocious dog-headed beasts behind him called Beli, which I guess explains the fantastical cover art. Norse mythology and Skaldic poetry recant the tale of nefarious deeds such as the snatching and carrying off of the goddess Iðunn. Rather than get into this any deeper although it is a fascinating read I shall leave the wiki page relating to this at the bottom of the review.
From what I can gather from press releases etc Shamaatae is embracing the spirit of the giant Þjazi through his music, challenging the old gods with this “Soundtrack to Wintry Death of the Worlds” and basically creating chaos harkening the rise of ice cold winters devouring this world as they rise out of the underworld and destroy all life with the beginning of Ragna Røk. In other words business as usual then!
Well after this fascinating premise let’s get to the music. ‘ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ’ is a lot more structured than its predecessor and it has more in the way of songs about it, although there are some odd parts as to be expected. Shamaatae concentrates very much on the ritualistic power of the riff here (well that’s the way I interpret it; others might just think he strums the guitar furiously). The ferocious battery of ‘Þórhati’ blasts in without a shred of mercy, the rasping vocals are full on and I am again guessing delivered in some archaic long lost language, or are they as for some reason I think I can clearly hear the words ‘Storm of Death’ being flung out the void here? Production is razor sharp, atmosphere is icy fucking cold and this opener is absolutely a powerful rite of destruction. Luckily rather than going weird quite yet the pace is kept up with ‘Þann Svartís’, which hammers away relentlessly with a blackened fury behind it. Slowing slightly it lurches off with a furrowing groove behind it and a chug heavy rattle from which a delirious guitar solo breaks through. Although some may consider this sort of style primitive in execution it’s fantastically and skilfully played.
Apart from some incredibly strange guitar notes being hit and some really odd noises flying out, we are still going strong and riff heavy until we hit the sinister short and shimmering instrumental ‘Þyrstr.’ From here though we go into the mid paced ‘Þjóbaugvittr’ a fantastic number which to my ears cites, albeit at a slightly different timing, the main theme to John Carpenter’s Halloween. Arckanum are not the first within black metal (Massemord and Shining instantly spring to mind) to embrace this theme but this is a killer number, winding and grinding away with dread fired out as a weapon.
It’s time for what sounds like a black mass with ‘Þjazagaldr;’ I am sure the story behind the recording of this is interesting in itself but as a listener we can just take it as an interlude to the furious paced music itself and something to accentuate the atmosphere. There be wolves and things with sharpened claws lurking within, be warned! As what sounds like thunder crashing or huge waves battering the rocks a lone guitar chord whips up and we head into ‘Þá Kómu Niflstormum,’ this is utterly involving stuff even if it has moved away from formulaic song craft and as the rest of the instrumentation crashes in and the grip tightens you are completely mesmerised. Playing it straight we go towards the end of the album at a more mid paced cleave with high emphasis placed on the guttural vocals.
Not sure what the packaging is going to be like on the finished product but hopefully it should match the scope of the overall project. Not only is the music here absolutely fantastic but so are the ideas behind it and if you are into serious black metal this is a pretty much essential purchase from the ever reliable Debemur Morti Productions.
http://www.arckanum.se
http://www.myspace.com/officialarckanummyspace
http://www.debemur-morti.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thjazi
