Mindblowing Finnish Black Metal (ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ - Arckanum)

Member Name: Burning_Darkness

Product:	ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ - Arckanum
Date:	20/09/09 (56 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Varied and catchy songs, brilliant riffs, incredibly powerful and atmospheric.

Disadvantages: Ambient interlude is overlong

Released in 2009, Finnish black metal band Arckanum's fifth full length, 'ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ' sounds like it should be pronounced by blowing an extended raspberry, but in actuality the album is based around chaos-gnostic themes, and is apparently prounounced as 'Thurisaz', times eleven. So that's that then.

The album is simply spectacular, merging the folky, alternately bombastic and jaunty and sorrowful and lethargic melodies of Ukranian peers Drudkh with the ominous rumbling of Hate Forest and the electrifying, furiously melodic riffling of Rotting Christ's spectacular 2007 full length 'Theogonia'. There's even the odd hint of the black/thrash style of Melechesh here and there, and it all fits together beautifully, the well-structured songs further accentuated by catchy, chuggy sections and suicidal black metal parts that remind of both the repetitive, harrowing dissonance of Trist and the grinding nihilism of Shining. The vocals complement the music brilliantly, sounding like a mix between the wounded bellowing of Drudkh/Hate Forest frontman Roman Saenko and the hysterical howling of Rotting Christ vocalist Sakis. Both lyrics and songtitles are all in Finnish, and furthermore no lyrics are given in the album sleeve, but this just serves to increase the album's mysterious atmosphere.

ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ' is a hugely powerful and organic-feeling album that manages to be epic, catchy, and incredibly moving all at the same time, employing uncomplicated and repetitive riffs without ever becoming stale or boring. The only thing that lets the album down is the ambient interlude mid-way through. This consists of windswept forest sounds and distant evocations, but goes on for far too long. Other than this however ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ' is a flawless black metal album, and ranks as my favourite album of 2009 by a hefty margin. Fans of Hate Forest, Drudkh, Rotting Christ and Shining would be well advised to track it down, as would fans of Arckanum's Finnish peers Horna, Behexen and Sargeist. Brilliant!

Tracklisting-

1. Þórhati 03:59
2. Þann Svartís 04:06
3. Þyrpas Ulfar 05:36
4. Þursvitnir 05:49
5. Þyrstr 01:33
6. Þjóbaugvittr 04:45
7. Þjazagaldr 04:54
8. Þá Kómu Niflstormum 07:47
9. Þrúðkyn 04:29
10. Þríandi 04:16
11. Þyteitr 02:47

Total playing time 47:21

Summary: The best black metal album of 2009