Warthur
Shamaatae sharpened up Arckanum's sound for this second album, which shows a greater sonic variety than the project's debut whilst staying within the pure black metal realm Arckanum have carved out for themselves. Some portions seem to rock out to an extent that black metal sometimes seems too po-faced to attempt; in other portions, Andreas Sten is brought in as a guest musician to provide some delicate violin performances, which add a wistful and softer note to Shamaatae's compositions. Purportedly recorded in an intense burst in 1995 along with the followup Kampen and the never-released Faunaz Samgang - the latter of which was extensively rewritten and a revised version recorded and released as Antikosmos - this finds Shamaatae at a creative peak, and the results secure Arckanum's place in the pantheon of Swedish black metal.
