Kampen

Scene; It's around early 1998 and I am in Woodpecker Records in my hometown of Lakeland, Florida. Last year I have learned that Lakeland is also home to Full Moon Productions and that the owner John (a.k.a. Thorns) is selling some of his albums he has stocked to Woodpecker Records in hopes of expanding the label for sales, finding dedicated fans, introducing new fans to the world of extreme metal (black, death, thrash, speed, doom, etc.). I find that Woodpecker Records has dedicated a small section of the CD bin to nothing but extreme metal. I gaze through the titles and artists...Horna, Aeternus, Thou Art Lord, Sacrilegium, Unlord, etc. I have hit the mother load here. Only a year or two ago I was first exposed to extreme metal just by picking up an issue of Metal Maniacs at the local Circle K convenient store and now I have the option of actually listening to them. I am in an oasis of dark ritualistic music and total satanic noise and I don't care if I ever fucking come out of it. Some of the titles stick out, but one keeps poking it's head out the most; Arckanum's "Kampen."

Right from the get go, Arckanum promises something that a lot of other black metal bands don't offer; a sense of mystery. Now you can say to yourself "Well actually a lot of them do" but the mystery to Arckanum is it's mysticism taken from Swedish mythology and it's natural environment. Images of satyrs running through the forests, drinking ale from golden cups, on the prowl for young female virgins, and whatever mythological politics they may have with the other creatures that are alive in a time of what legends and fantasies are made of. Maybe the only other artist I can say that has done the same thing is Mortiis in his Cold Meat Industry days(which is still fucking excellent, btw). Except Arckanum doesn't play dark ambient Tangerine Dream landscapes of keyboard/synth music. No, they play raw, yet very razor-sharp melodic Swedish black metal that would have any guitarist or fan salivating at the mouth.

Arckanum's "Kampen" being their third album is possibly their best in terms of progression, and production. The past two albums showed main man and sole musician Shamaatae playing a very crystal clear black metal take on thrash metal with hints of Razor, Piledriver, Exorcist(Can), Dark Angel, Poison(Ger), etc. Plus let's not forget Shamaatae also played for the most fucking amazing and most evilest band to come out of Sweden; Grotesque. A band which also featured sulfur and hellfire-spewing vocalist supreme Goatspell aka Thomas "Tompa" Lindberg! So already we have an excellent musician with excellent creditbility bringing in even more excellent influences. But on "Kampen" we see Shamaatae toning down the thrash metal influences and morphing them into catchy-as-fuck black metal riffs. Here he shows he is progressing into his own. Not that he already did so with the first two albums, but "Kampen" stands alone as far as musical creations. The sound production is typical Swedish sound, raw and dirty yet very well-produced. A perfect combo that completely enhances the blackened atmosphere.

When Necropolis Records first issued "Kampen" they completely screwed it up, but in retrospect they made is seem a lot more interesting. Instead of it being a single album with 12 tracks, they released it as a double album with 2 huge songs cut into 7 tracks on the first disc and 5 tracks on the second. Shamaatae has stated many times over how he intended it that they screwed up, but the original version pushed the album to make the music seem like there was a lot more going on than just riffs and insane drumming. Over the years it's seen a re-release here and there including the highly criticized Full Moon Production version which some claim the songs are cut short and wrong track listing, and very recently the Debemur Morti version with the lovely hard cover book digipack version. Also the amazing and beautiful artwork has been fully kept and not fucked with. IMO, Arckanum's "Kampen" has the best artwork and layout next to Mortiis' "Crypt Of The Wizard".

Cut between the song are pieces of natural noise you might hear in a Swedish forest; owls, birds, the water flowing down crystal clear streams, and female vocals. Again this enhances the mystical side of Arckanum that hasn't been touched by any other artists in the Swedish black metal scene. Shamaatae is obviously a king in his own domain of forest creatures running around creating mythological mischeif. Song like "Frana", "Tronan Yvir þusand Landskaps Mark", "þe Hæmpndlystnir Fran Dimban" are insane tracks filled with razor riffs and rolling double-bass. Shamaatae's vocals are dry with despair as well as clear haunting ritualistic chants that sezes your attention. Guest females vocalist Lena Klarström, on cuts such as "Kamps Tekn", "Pa Gruvstiigher Vandrum", and "Minir Natz Fughlir" evokes nightly images of bonfires, horns, ancient sigils, runes and symbols painted allover the mesmerizing location of metaphysical and exorcising gnostic rituals. There are just so many riffs and sections where it's a lot of stop/start drumming and other pieces of music, it's hard to pick anything that stands out and that's the whole great thing about "Kampen" is that you have to listen to the album the entire way through in order to get the entire picture.

If I had to introduce someone to Arckanum, I would without a doubt pick "Kampen" for the obvious reasons and that it's the album where the music speaks for itself. I consider the first two Arckanum albums complete fan base favorites and the other releases for complete diehards.

I love Arckanum. I have all their full length releases and a few of the splits. The reason why Arckanum is so great, so powerful, is that they are raw, brutal, emotional, and technical, and all of it from the mind and hands of a single man. Normally Swedish black metal is significantly inferior, not as bad as the black metal here in the US, but pretty bad none the less. Arckanum breaks the mold by producing grim, raw, evocative masterpieces.
Kampen fits into the typical greatness of Arckanum in the melodic rage of previous releases. The vocals are tortured in a way that reminds me of old Burzum. The guitar riffs are technical, and simple, soft, and brutal according to the mood of the song. The drums blast and roll, fill and gallop. The only problem with this release is that the songs are recorded in long chunks, and therefore cannot be skipped to hear favorites. What almost saves it all is that the material is so good that you dont really need to skip the tracks most of the time. This is the only Arckanum record that is still in print, and although it is not thier best, it is still incredible. I love it and you will too.