Black Metal

Having grown out of the Norwegian Death Metal band MORTEM, ARCTURUS emerged under the irresistible influence of Oslo’s creatively bursting and fast rising underground black metal scene officially with the two-track 7″ “My Angel” (1991). With then-guitarist and formidable keyboard player Sverd and MAYHEM drum-beast Hellhammer at its core, vocals were first contributed by Marius Vold, who also sang on the legendary THORNS demo “The Thule Tape”. While still very much influenced by death metal, the addition of doom-laden slowness and eerie keyboards already pointed into a far blacker cosmos. On the four tracks of the original 1994 “Constellation” EP, ULVER’s Garm had taken over the vocal duties and Samoth from EMPEROR had joined the band on guitar. Yet, ARCTURUS already went off the (in reality quite wide-ranged) black metal norms mainly due to Sverd’s keyboard arrangements that were pre-shadowing the trademark theatrical or circus-like style the Norwegians adopted on their following albums.

Black Metal

On their sophomore full-length “La Masquerade Infernale” (1997), ARCTURUS took their musical experimenting three ambitious steps further. The Norwegians succeeded in wedding a devilish concept loosely based on the characters of Faust and Mephistopheles with an eclectic range of surreal sound elements into an album that is rightfully considered a prime example of what later came to be known as avant-garde metal. From quoting Edgar Allan Poe in operatic paraphrases by frontman Garm (ULVER) or the additional high notes from the unmistakable I.C.S. Vortex (BORKNAGAR) via the spaced-out electronic samples, classical instrumentation, and an even increased use of psychedelic guitar riffage alongside more “traditional” black and death metal elements. Brilliant guitarist Knut Magne Valle replaced Carl August Tideman, which brought stability to this position of the band’s line-up. ARCTURUS aimed dangerously high with “La Masquerade Infernale” – but remarkably pulled off the extremely difficult feat of forging such widely differing elements into a wildly fascinating, over the top listening experience that has stood the test of time and surely deserves to be labelled a “masterpiece”.

Black Metal

Re-issue of the groundbreaking debut album

With their groundbreaking debut album, Bethlehem gave name to an entire genre: “Dark Metal”.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of this classic, a reissue in Digipak format with bonus DVD will be released. The DVD contains a video recording of a complete Bethlehem concert in Poland from 1994 and is thus a highly interesting document of the early stages of one of the most influential metal bands from Germany.

Black Metal

Dictius Te Necare is Bethlehem’s second full-length album and an undisputed cornerstone of the entire Suicidal/Depressive Black Metal genre.

The Prophecy reissue of this classic comes as Digipak CD with 12-pages booklet and stays true to the original spirit of the album.