ARCKANUM's new album is of course dedicated to the flaming giant wolf, son of Loki. Become better acquainted with the flaming giant wolf through ARCKANUM mastermind Shamaatae:
“The flaming giant-wolf, son of Loki; created from the Chaos-fires of Múspellsheimr. [This album] is a tribute to the wrathful giant-wolf, son of Angrboða, found in the Ironwood where he is breeding hordes of giant monstrous wolves with Angrboða. His victorious name is Fenrir, also called Tungls Tjúgari. The sounds and music on this album are my auditory vision of the march of Fenrir convoyed with his hordes of giant wolves from the depths of the underworld to face Ragna Rök with warlike glory – deformed giant-wolves swarming in thousands. This is my tribute to the wrathful, harsh and untamed anti-nature of Fenrir’s mighty essence! The anti-cosmic enemy of the worlds! Heill Tungls Tjúgari! Heilir Fenris Synir!”
The “heilir” ‘Fenris Kindir’ though can be streamed below. ARCKANUM's new black ritual is due on May 10th, 2013 in Europe and on May 14th, 2013 in North America on Season Of Mist. Listen, be awed by Fenrir's march, and buy the record here (Season Of Mist e-shop):
As AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia puts it: “Shamaatae first broke bread with elves and trolls in 1992”. Swedish multi-instrumentalist Shamaatae (Johan S. Lahger), founded ARCKANUM after ending his drumming career with CONQUEST/GROTESQUE (who were to become AT THE GATES). A one-man project, Shamaatae obtained a record deal with Necropolis Records in 1995, on the strength of the 15-song demo he recorded, called ‘Trulen’. His debut full-length album ‘Fran Marder’, originally released in 1995, was reissued by Debemur Morti Productions in 2009:
“On one hand as grim and frostbitten as Norway's best, on the other exhibiting a fire and earthiness completely unique amongst the band's contemporaries, ‘Fran Marder’ simply mesmerized with its subtly shifting hypnosis, all the while mainman Shamaatae spitting praises to Pan and the powers of chaos as if his very life depended upon it. And now, with exclusively remastered sound by Andy Classen, that palpitating venom becomes even more blanching, Pan's legions of chaos invoked even more severely,” [offered the ever eloquent label:]
Its worthy sequel, ‘Kostogher’, followed in 1997. Considered by many to be Shamaatae's best work, the album combined black metal rawness with sounds from wilderness (horses, thunder, clanging of metal against metal…), with added “queen-of-the-forest” female vocals and a violin:
Nearly five minutes of forest sounds, low chanting and the occasional tribal drumbeat introduced ARCKANUM's third, relentless album ‘Kampen’. Originally released in 1998,
“ARCKANUM laid bare all that came before and all that was to come: from wild, widescreen wanderlust to the pulsating grit of proto-black Metal, ‘Kampen’ ranges the vast experience and even vaster hinterlands of the imagination of Shamaatae's psyche. And now, with exclusively remastered sound, those hinterlands become vaster, the maw of chaos opening even wider:”
Quite a few EPs, splits and a compilation album later, ARCKANUM returned in 2008 with fourth LP ‘Antikosmos’, consisting of “eight complex and chaotic compositions delivered in the archaic Runic language, a wrathful tongue which lends might and majesty to the black magical formulae”. The album was released through Debemur Morti Productions and Moribund Records:
Shamaatae's ‘ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ’ came next in 2009, followed by his first published book entitled “Pan Paradox”. Stripped of “animal cries and sounds of the forest, the atmospheric keyboards and the haunting female vocals”, some listeners welcomed ‘ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ’ while others found it lacking (Phil Freeman, AllMusic – more here):
‘Sviga Lae’, an album dedicated to Surtr (“a giant and ruler of the world of flames Múspellzheimr”) and Loki (“the flaming giant and archenemy of the worlds”) was released in 2010 through Regain Records. But since Loki is not one of this or otherworld's best known sharers, ARCKANUM attributed 2011's ‘Helvítismyrkr’ to him alone, including the exclusive bit recorded at midnight during winter 1996-97. Issued through Season Of Mist, the album featured guest appearances by guitarist Set Teitan, vocalists Kajsa Lahger-Klarström, Basse Wallin and Set Teitan and violinist Stefan Westberg:
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