With a line-up culled from the legendary likes of Mayhem, Ulver, and Ved Buens Ende, you could dismiss Arcturus as something of a supergroup, but, as Chad Hensley finds out, founding members Hellhammer and Garm have far more, er, illuminating things to say for themselves.
Stars speckle a chill sky over Norway. Light from deep space falls upon frosted earth. A bright haunting sound resonates from the radiant source. A group of five musicians stand in the shadows. Hailing under the name of a first magnitude star in the constellation Bootes, ARCTURUS has gathered. For many, ARCTURUS might be considered just another side project, for several members are already established musicians from the dark ranks of MAYHEM, ULVER, VED BUENS ENDE and TRITONUS.
Jan Axel Blomberg, better known as Hellhammer, is not the only drummer of the seminal Norwegian death scouge called MAYHEM but a founding member of ARCTURUS. "Back in '89, Sverd [ARCTURUS' keyboardist] and I had a band together called MORTEM. At the end of MORTEM, Sverd asked me if I as interested in doing another project. ARCTURUS was the name that reflected our music-bright, shiny and divine. Out of reach as a star in the black sky. Our first effort was a seven-inch called "My Angel'. This band is completely different than MAYHEM. I find great satisfaction in playing with ARCTURUS, requiring a different feeling and playing technique.
ARCTURUS' vocalist, Garm, is also in the darkness of ULVER as well as BORKNAGAR. "My reason for getting involved is because ARCTURUS is very inspired by classical influence. It moves me. With the talent of the musicians involved the project has great potential. The music is a spectral power. It is the "why of all that remains unanswered. A felling that lacks words of description."
The band's first full length is "Aspera Hiems Symphonia', on Norway's own Ancient Lore Creations, which is currently distributed by Misanthropy Records. Later this year, the album will be released in America on Century Media. Garm speaks fondly of the new material. "If not for certain failures in the sound, I'd say the most genius song is "Du Nordavind'. I love the song's surreal madness played on a strain that evokes macabre and queer images in the listener's mind. The next track is "Fall Of Man", bugbear of the apocalypse. "The Bodkin & The Quietus" is a decadent lyric about bestowing death upon one's self in order to achieve wisdom."
There is little doubt that the ignorant will attempt to brand ARCTURUS as Black Metal if for no other reason than the other bands Hellhammer and Garm are involved with. Garm has no problems with that. "Satan is a symbol of values and attributes I feel a close emotional fellowship with. My beliefs, however, might differ much from that of others because, for me, there is no single set of beliefs that comprise Satanism. I will say that while I do adhere to many of the political ideas which are common among the Church of Satan related circles, I disagree with the creating of a controversial name for the purposes of intellectual atheism. I see Satan as the tragedy of my identity and nature. This allows me to touch the dark side myself. This embodies power and strength but at the same time humbleness and frustration. One truly has to be stupid believing that the summoning of evil can lead solely to positive things. Satanism is a delicate line between romance and destruction."
Perhaps more disturbing are Garm's views on the crimes which have drawn attention to his homeland in the last few years. "I'm not an adherent of the common moral being exercised and upheld by law. To be perfectly rational, crimes do not necessarily have to be the wrong doings of deranged minds. Some people simply cannot acknowledge that society has a design for their lives. Judicial authorities often make a mockery of truly intelligent people. For in fearing adverse elements and only able to lock them behind bars, these authorities seem capable of only renunciations of their own mistakes; a vulgarisation of mankind and a debasement of the strong. We are obviously better off fighting the hypocrisy of our system in isolation. I do not weep when churches burn. Whether it's purposeful or not is another story."
Performing live is an interesting matter for ARCTURUS. Hellhammer says, "To this day, we have only played one live show since ARCTURUS consists of members that have their own primary band. This should be corrected in the future." Garm adds "I am not fond of the concerts as the tend to be too mundane for my liking. ARCTURUS is a solemn creation and if they were to do performances they would have to be a theatrical solemnity. Our aim is to engage the souls. Inane moshing has nothing to do with what we are trying to express. The light from ARCTURUS is the fourth brightest star. But the light that we see has used 35 years to spark at us. The star could have already ceased to exist many years before my birth. There is a sense of mysterious beauty in this.
Interview taken from Terrorizer Magazine