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Credit where credit's due - even if you cannot, on principle, appreciate 'Disguised Masters' as a traditional Arcturus release per se, at least consider this: 'My Angel' and 'Constellation' were incredibly original by yesterday's standards, and though it cannot truly be compared to those seminal early releases, this 'new' album is undeniably original by today's. Five years ago it was still deemed innovative to incorporate classical influences, clean-sung vocals and keyboards into Black Metal music, whereas in 1999... well, you know the score. Who knows? In 2004 we may even yawn when we hear the umpteenth Scandinavian wannabes combining Black Metal with breakbeats and drum 'n' bass. For that is precisely what Arcturus have done here, though the extent to which the original source material from 'La Masquerade Infernale' can be classed as Black Metal is of course debatable. The six remixes - by, among others, Phantom FX, Magenta and Arcturus themselves - vary from TripHop to Jungle to all-out Gangsta Rap (the awesome Phantom FX/S.C.N. interpretation of 'Master of Disguise), while the rest of the album consists of a newie ('Deception Genesis'), a re-recorded oldie ('Du Nordavind') and a classical workout ('Ad Astra', minus vox, beatz and gee-tars). As an idiosyncratic sonic scrapbook of the wildly diverse influences Garm, Sverd and company have absorbed in recent years, 'Disguised Masters' is certainly interesting. I hesitate to use that word - interesting - because it usually carries the connotation of partial, if not complete, failure. Certainly the album is flawed and somewhat inconsistent, but as a whole the venture can only be described as a success. Fans of the band will unquestionably feel that the two newly recorded tracks are worth the price of entry alone, while open-minded folks will no doubt find much of the remix material intriguing too. One for the completist, then, or at least the true Arcturus connoisseur.

With each release from Norway's Arcturus, my respect and admiration grows for this group. Each new album becomes a bigger upraised finger to the small, but very vocal elitists within the scene who try to place their demands on what black metal is allowed to be. In my opinion, that denies artistic right to the actual musicians who are the ones doing the creating. The fact that Arcturus dared to release something such as Disguised Masters proves that they are the ones who are in control of the scene, rather than beholding to a small group of narrow minded fans. If you caught any of the commentary on Disguised Masters, people screamed that Garm (who has undergone metamorphosis into "Trickster G." or something quite hilarious, most likely just to mess with the easily irritated fans) had betrayed black metal, sold out, or a dozen other vicious claims. "He raps!" they hooted. "There's techno beats!" they hollered. That makes me wonder what Arcturus could possibly owe these people. Is a band required to make albums that will please the fans? Or please themselves? If they were to make traditional black metal (not that Arcturus really has been traditional in my experience) just to appease the elitists, wouldn't that constitute a true selling out? Based on my observations, Arcturus is a band who does precisely what they want to do, regardless of what anyone thinks or says. That is keeping true to one's self, which essentially should be the black metal creed. Well, who knows. That sort of "lifestyle" seems based entirely on early Darkthrone interviews. But I digress. The point is those who immediately call Garm a "traitor" are not giving him or the other members of Arcturus the respect that is deserved. They don't necessarily have to like Disguised Masters, but the accusations to me are just whiny little brats thinking they are superior to the artists themselves. Personally, I think Disguised Masters is all around a fantastic piece of work. Normally the term "remix" conjures up a lonely, pimply studio engineer taking precisely one riff, repeating it ad nauseum and inserting a ridiculous dance floor drum beat. Not so in the case of Disguised Masters. From the intro piece composed by When to the Legendary Pink Dot-esque violin/cello based "Ad Astra", the album is creativity personified under the banner of a more electronic music world. "Deception Genesis" is tripped out with eerie sound collages, but would have sounded perfectly at home on La Masquerade Infernale. The only harsh track is "Du Nordavind", which has a bit of Garm's screams and growls. Tracks like "The Throne of Tragedy" incorporate more techno-ish drum beats, somewhat in the vein of Orbital by way of Skinny Puppy. Of course, you have "Master of Disguise", which features Garm's so-called "rap", which comes across as an overtly dramatic recitation than Snoop Doggy Dogg (is it one or two Gs, or does anyone actually care?). The fact that so many people flipped out over this one track shows a lot of closed ears in the black metal elitist community. Don't like it? Hit the skip button on your CD player because "Painting My Horror" is an excellent ambient track with floating voices and haunting effects. At the end of the day, Arcturus should be commended for taking back control of the music and putting artistic intention well ahead of scene politics. Garm and his Mad-Wack Crew are going to do precisely what they want to do. Why this comes as a surprise to people is beyond me. With the band having roots in Ulver, Ved Buens Ende, Mayhem and beyond, the composite of talent is going to take them down many strange avenues. It would be a shame if they didn't pursue any one avenue due to fear of reprisal from scene elitists. Disguised Masters is a great testament to honest musical creativity and demands a revision of prior ideals in a stagnating music scene.

This release is sure to piss off a lot of people in the scene today, since most will consider it "commercial trash". Well, once you put your "True/Elite" image aside, what you have here is a brilliant piece of work. "Disguised Masters" mostly consists of remixes of old Arcturus songs. In fact, the only new material on this album is the intro (written for Arcturus by WHEN), and a new track entitled "Deception Genesis". If I had to compare this to anything, it would be more along the lines of "La Masquerade Infernale", since there are barely any grim vocals (in fact, the only song with grim vocals is the remix of "Du Nordavind")...mostly just Garm's (now known as Trickster G.) regular singing voice. But, unlike "La Masquerade Infernale", this album is musically much more experimental. Everything ranging from Jungle (Drum & Bass), Break Beats, Trip Hop, and Trance...all mixed with the typical Arcturus style. Being a fan of all types of Techno music myself, I can say that Arcturus does an excellent job in creating such music...and at the same time coming up with something completely original while mixing it with their old music. While this release is DEFINITELY not for everyone, I would recommend it to people who have an open mind to experimental music. In my opinion, "Disguised Masters" and Ulver's "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" are the most innovative and brilliant releases to come out in years. After all, how much can you truly express yourself by cloning "Transilvanian Hunger" album after album? This isn't Black Metal by any means...it's not like anything...it's ARCTURUS. In one word: Brilliant.

Just like it is written at the CD's back cover, this isn't Arcturus new album, but a collection from among strange creations post "La Masquerade Infernale". I know what many specialists will say, "Arcturus are finished etc.". Well no, Arcturus play what they really like - and they play it perfectly. They may have absolutely nothing to do with black metal anymore, where they started from, and as a matter of fact they have nothing to do with metal in general, but that's another story. Those nine remixed songs along with a new one create a depressing atmosphere of decline and loss. Completely out of the standard, quite weird, I'd say. Beats here and there; the keyboards as well as the absolutely psychotic vocals are enchanting. I really can't classify that album in any category, it's something original and unique, for me. I cannot imagine how their new CD will sound like - being a psycho is an advantage and these guys know how to use it! Listening to the album fills the much-suffering brain of yours with sickening, distant thoughts. Nevertheless, I said yes to something so new, inspired, weird and sick. It's up to you! Rate: Rate it according to your tastes, some will give it an 0, others a 10!

ARCTURUS and The Deception Circus: Disguised Masters - (Jester Records/Voices of Wonder) CD. Remix projects on average lead to disaster; inexperienced bands with a plastic passion that lack an honest love and knowledge about the remixing concept, usually only concerned with how it will be recieved by the masses, not how the music sounds.. ARCTURUS will have none of that! This endeavor is so successful because of the fluency of the artists involved with the vast array of perceptions fused into the original framework... Beginning with an exclusive introduction by the Norwegian avant garde-ist Lars Pedersen and his pseudonym WHEN; the piece is transient yet reminiscent (the choir elements) of the most haunting piece of music ever composed "Svartedauen/The Black Death"... Following is a new exclusive piece by ARCTURUS, "Deception Genesis", brooding and tenebrous, this piece builds dynamically to poignant climaxes through juxtapositions of sensitive ambiance and intense drama, definitely a successful chemistry working here... Next is a remix of their earlier "Du Nordavind", what a leap this piece has made in '98!! This version sounds far more certain and refined, the grim vocals are that of Ulver's "Nattens Madrigal" and stray from the more cleanly produced on "Aspera..." the melodic vocals hearken to "La Masquerade..." and Ulver's "Themes..." yet remain in the mother tongue as the original was composed, definitely light years ahead of its first skin... "Alone" is quite an interesting interlude from the juxtaposed conventionality (???) of the first couple pieces, dropping into a surreal and watery drum n bass/ambient/jungle mix, bearing little resemblance to the original model... The next remix transforms "The Throne of Tragedy" into an extremely agressive break beat conjuration, the internal structure altered but in tact, this really mutates the entire mood and exalts the violence within, superb!.. The Hellhammer/Valle reconstruction of "La Masquerade Infernale" is quite trippy, a bit more convoluted with depth this jazzy drum 'n bass version is an excellent progression from the original form (reminds me of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me set in the electronica movement)... And here we have a little surprise, we all anticipated ARCTURUS would have drum n bass, ambient, trip hop, break beat and jungle remixes but would one have guessed a RAP mutation of "Master of Disguise"? Well this Phantom FX mix is a very impressive, dark and atmospheric hip hop, the raps are not rhymes but slightly altered original text... This piece builds into one of the most haunting exits you will ever hear, an amazingly grim cello/hip hop section, madness!! Up next is G. Wolf's Levitation mix of "Painting My Horror", bubbly and surreal this piece contains some beautiful textures and structuring, Garm really has the dynamics to make something so delicate work wonders, superb!! MAGENTA (features Cadaver/Apoptygma Berzerk Anders Odden) treat "Ad Astra" to a feast of intensely atmospheric synth pop/EBM (my favorite remix), powerful programming and poignant melodic structures make this one of the most exquisite space pop pieces you will ever hear... And much to soon, the end has come, an abstracted mix of "Ad Astra" involving only the string section shows us the door, a perfect way to end this leap of a masterpiece... Many will disagree since there isnt really much metal at all on the disc... I reccomend it though..

I put off buying this remix album for some time, since I'd heard a number of Arcturus fans complaining about how disappointed they were with it, and because I've simply never heard a good remix album. Finally I impulse-bought it when I had some cash burning a hole in my pocket, and in the end I'm glad I did, because Disguised Masters is highly entertaining in a variety of ways.

To be fair, this is a little more than a mere remix album; the album is divided into three parts, viz. Preludium (which contains new material), Interludium (the infamous remixes) and Postludium (which I'll deal with later). A brief introductory track (designed by fellow Jester artists When) leads nicely into an all-new song, "Deception Genesis", which is probably indicative of Arcturus's current musical direction. If this is so, we can expect somewhat less mayhem (pun almost intended) from future releases; this track is considerably less sonically dense than the La Masquerade Infernale material, although still claustrophobically dark and oppressive, with a powerful, typically Garm-style, chorus melody, but no more electronic elements than the songs on that last album. Next we are offered a reworked version of the Aspera Hiems Symfonia track "Du Nordavind", which actually serves to highlight the fact that the material from the last two albums isn't actually radically different in compositional style; it's just the execution that has changed. It's nice to hear Garm's brilliant harsh vocals again, too, for what will probably be the last time, injected with more passion than ever before.

Six remixed versions of tracks from La Masquerade Infernale follow, some masterminded by the band themselves, and some by more techno-minded friends of theirs. It's important to understand that we are talking about techno music here - if you didn't like Themes from William Blake's..., you will probably want to smash this CD up within seconds of hearing these tracks. The quality varies, but on the whole the artists responsible for each track have managed to add a different (but not necessarily better) dimension to their chosen song, rather than cack-handedly layering a jungle drumbeat under the original song, which seems to be what most remixes consist of. Almost all of these reworked songs stand up as significantly different compositions in their own right, the Phantom FX version of "The Throne of Tragedy" being a particularly good example. Special mention has to go to the gangsta rap version of "Master of Disguise" (whose idea was that?!), which is strangely cool in a yoyoyo kind of way, and the "Magenta experience" version of "Ad Astra", which is absolutely appallingly dreadful, being very very tedious, irritating and generic dance pop bearing almost no relation to the original song at all.

Postludium consists of what is billed as an "ensemble version" of "Ad Astra", but is in fact merely the string quartet parts of the original version welded together. This is good if you're trying to chill out, but is a little bare of interest for active listening, which is only to be expected since this is merely the accompaniment for the Masquerade version. Also, annoyingly, my mind keeps filling in the other parts from the original version, which is slightly distracting.

As a whole, Disguised Masters is pretty good, and a fairly bold move for a band with black metal roots; I can see it influencing a whole set of die-hard metallers to try listening to other types of music for a change. Next month I'll be reviewing Goldie's new black metal album.

Following the critically acclaimed and highly successful 1997 'La Masquerade Infernale' (released through Music For Nations on license from Misanthropy Records after the latter felt the album too big for them to effectively handle, distribute etc) comes this 'new' release. In facts it's more of an accompaniment, the dessert after the main course, and if you've yet to experience 'La Masquerade...', quit reading this review and go seek! The splendour of sampling such a delicacy such as this can only be fully appreciated when the big feed is complete.

As the sleeve states: "This is not the new Arcturus album. It is a collection of oddities conceived in the period after 'La Masquerade Infernale'." Indeed, 'Disguised Masters' is a veritable freakshow of various collaborators who deliver a bizarre interpretation of the songs that constitute the original masterpiece. Musically unclassifiable and regardless of your preferences towards any particular style of music you'll either love it or hate it. There really is no in-between option.

Imagine if you will that delapidated back street theatre on the edge of town where no mortal has ventured for a decade. Passing by you cannot help but take note of the queue that has formed outside, the entire residency of the cemetery has awoken, in varying states of decay. Strange electronic yet mystical sounds emanate from deep within the supposedly deserted theatre.

Nightmarish synthesisers and highly irregular percussion grip the air as bizarre light wailings and distorted gruff voices echo eerily from the black void within. You have just walked into a frightmare of epic proportions and escape is simply not an option. How it is possible to create a soundscape that quite frankly would turn the dyed black hair of your average mortal goth to the purest white stands boldly as a testament to the incredible ability and sheer talent of the musicians at work on this piece de resistance. A very dark and twisted creation, which rather than nestling on the edge of the gateway to Hell plummets deep into the depths of the black abyss beyond. 'Disguised Masters' is neither Black Metal or goth, but an unforgettable and rather disturbing bad acid trip into the realms of a terrifying, ethereal and downright weird world. There is diabolical genius at work here and it can be categorically stated that alongside the other release you have never heard an album like it, and in all probability never will again. Original, innovative, disturbing, beautiful, moving and incredible, yet these words wither pitifully alongside the might of this release. The only dessert you'll ever need following a perfect meal. Don't miss out.

A sort of "odds 'n' sods" collection for fans, Arcturus (the ongoing cross-pollination of Mayhem's drummer Hellhammer and the Garm from Ulver) has always tended more toward the metal end of "black metal." This collection of totally sound-fucked tracks from their previous celebrated full-length, Les Masquerade Infernale, promises to jerk all fans around even more (hey, it's JESTER Records, right?). Garm carries from Ulver his penchant for delivering vocals in as many paths as conceivable, through whatever channels the music affords. And that music sampled strings, crack prog-esque drumming, spacey (but edgy) ambient passages, the occasional drum 'n' bass foray ("Alone")-oh, and I mentioned Garm's departure into gangsta rap ("Master of Disguise," appropriately enough) too? Black metal fans seem to be of very differing opinions regarding Arcturus' previous two projects; I daresay this will further the rift in opinion. But make no mistake-even if you can't claim any Bathory or Morbid Angel T-shirts in your chest-of-drawers, you might still find the ambitious leanings of this dark, quasi-tribal "remix" album right down your hollow.

Ok, be prepared for something truly fucked up. This is the remix album of LA MASQUERADE INFERNALE, made in collaboration with a collection of twisted individuals known as The Deception Circus. The album is split into three parts; the first one consisting of a strange and fascinating intro which leads to the only original track on the CD, "Deception Genesis". This is a superb track - very dark, beautiful and... insane - and if Arcturus continues in this direction (which I really doubt because one never knows what to expect from these madmen), they could reach for even greater heights of artistic brilliance. The third track is a new version of ASPERA HIEMS SYMFONIA's "Du Nordavind", and it really is a great version. The next part of the album is made up of all the LA MASQUERADE INFERNALE remixes, and these are VERY varied. "Alone", for instance, doesn't seem to have anything with the original version to do whatsoever, while "La Masquerade Infernale" is quite similar to the original. A thing to note is the gangsta version of "Master Of Disguise", great fun! The final part of the album is "Ad Astra" in ensemble version, i.e. with most of the instruments cut off and only the spine of the song remaining. This release will not receive grades as it is only a remix (although what a remix!), but I will however recommend "Deception Genesis" as one of the best Arcturus tracks ever.

Summed up: A strange cocktail only conceivable by the sickest - and most genius - minds of the norwegian metal scene...

Arcturus are a Norwegian 'progressive black metal' band that share members with label mates Ulver (see also "Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" and "Metamorphosis" EP). The 'black metal' tag is deceiving here, especially when you consider that most of this disc is comprised of electronic reworkings of their latest album "La Masquerade Infernale". When you read the term 'black metal' you probably think of 10,000 mph guitar riffs, double bass drums assaults and a growling/screaming madman on vocals, right? Arcturus, much like recent Ulver, is different. Their music is much more varied, dramatic, lyrically poetic and musically intelligent. They not only delve in said metal basics but add interesting elements such as mellow electric guitar passages, piano, synth atmospheres, orchestral arrangements and programmed beats. The disc is separated into 3 sections: Preludium, Interludium and Postludium. The Preludium offers a short sample collage intro by When (see also "Psychedelic Wunderbaum"), the new track "Deception Genesis" and a 1998 re-recording of "Du Nordavind". The latter two tracks give me an idea of what un-altered Arcturus sounds like ... it's not all that much unlike the more vocal/metal based tracks on Ulver's "Themes..". The Interludium is where things get really interesting with 6 re-mixes / reconstructions by Intellecto/Valle, Phantom FX, Valle/Hellhammer and G. Wolf. Having never heard the original tracks I can only guess as to how much they're re-created here ... and my guess is *a lot*. The metal is either stripped away entirely or heavily augmented with samples, orchestral synths and/or electronics and the songs sound completely re-arranged. All of these re-mixes are nicely done, very well produced (as is everything on the label) and don't sound contrived or generic. The Phantom FX heavy hip-hop styled remix of "Master of Disguise" with 'gangstafications' (ie, rapping) by S.C.N. is the most surprising and consequently my favorite. The sole track that comprises the Postludium is a purely orchestral arrangement of "Ad Astra". A fitting end to a diverse and solid collection of tracks ...

This disc presents black metal guitar riffs, death rock vocals, and keyboards with a space-like quality. The mechanical vocals are often distorted, usually only mildly, but enough to make me wonder why. This guy has a really spooky voice on his own and doesn't need any added effect to make your skin crawl. I found his undistorted singing to be more captivating, but the distortion definitely adds an experimental/industrial flare that would otherwise leave Arcturus and the Deception Circus sounding like a black-metal-gone-goth band. Many of the songs are classical in style, in that they have slow introductions and endings and often feature a musical interlude somewhere mid-song. The movements between these slower parts are quite aggressive and powerful pieces. The powerful movements pick up a lot of momentum that doesn't lose steam with a slow movement, but rather calms your mind again before the storm. Track five,"The Throne of Tragedy" is particularly exempliary of this concept. And the whispering during the introduction is most monsterous! Who are these Disguised Masters? Find out more at: http://www.vow.dk.