Arckanum

Arckanum was a Swedish black metal solo band formed in 1993 by Johan "Shamaatae" Lahger, who was the only constant member. Arckanum ranks among the most influential and popular in the Swedish BM scene.

Not to be confused with Arcanum.
Arckanum
OriginDalarna, Sweden
GenresBlack metal
Years active1993–2018
Associated actsGrotesque, Svartsyn
MembersJohan "Shamaatae" Lahger
Past membersSataros
Loke Svarteld

Shamaatae is also an author of occult literature and writes under the names Vexior/Ekortu. His first published work, titled Panparadox, was released the 13th of July 2009 by Ixaxaar. His second book, Gullveigarbók, was released on December 2010 by Fall of Man. His third book was published on December, 21st 2014 called Þursakyngi, it is said to be a "book series" with each book dedicated to the Thursatru tradition. As of 2018, he has published multiple books and has many more to come. He put the band to rest in favour for his authorship.[1]

History

Shamaatae joined his first band, Conquest, aged eleven, the band later evolving into Grotesque.[2] On leaving Grotesque, Shamaatae formed a technical death metal band called Disinterment, who recorded one demo and played a few gigs before splitting up.[2] At the end of 1992, Shamaatae decided to return to black metal and Arckanum was started. Initially a full band, it became a solo project after six months.[2] After several releases, by 1998 Shamaatae had discontinued working with Necropolis Records because they went under, and turned his attention to writing books on the subjects of Pan, Old Norse traditions, runic witchcraft and anti-cosmic Satanism/chaos-gnosticism.[2]

He was still involved in music during this time still working with Arckanum and playing drums with The Hearsemen.[2] Arckanum's album ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ was released on 1 June 2009.[2] Antikosmos and ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ featured the guest appearance of Set Teitan of the bands Dissection and Watain. Shamataae released 3 more full lengths and several EP's and splits before deciding to record Arckanum's final album Den förstfödde which was released on September 29, 2017 through Folter Records, who are currently re-releasing the band's entire catalogue.

Arckanum was split up in 2018 in order for Shamaatae to focus solely on his authorship and spiritual ventures. In April 26th, 2019, Folter Records released Första trulen, an EP which contains the remixed and remastered recordings that were supposed to be the 1994 demo "Trulen", Shamaatae was unhappy with the original recordings and kept the material unreleased until after he disbanded Arckanum.

Lyrics

Arckanum's lyrics deal mainly with the worship of Chaos, as well as anti-cosmic Satanism.[3] He is noted for writing lyrics resembling Old Swedish, and he has stated that he tries to write his lyrics as grammatically correct as he can.[4] In his latest three albums however, the language is clearly meant to resemble Old East Norse.

Discography

Albums
  • Fran marder (May 15, 1995) Necropolis
  • Kostogher (Feb. 20, 1997) Necropolis
  • Kampen (1998) Necropolis
  • Antikosmos (June 21, 2008) Debemur Morti/Moribund
  • ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ (May 29, 2009) Debemur Morti
  • Sviga læ (Oct. 18, 2010) Regain Records
  • Helvítismyrkr (Sept. 16, 2011) Season of Mist[5]
  • Fenris Kindir (May 10, 2013) Season of Mist[6]
  • Den förstfödde (September 29, 2017) Folter Records

Demos
  • Demo ‘93 (1993)
  • Trulen (1994)

EPs
  • Boka vm Kaos (Feb. 2002)
  • Kosmos wardhin dræpas om sin / Emptiness Enthralls (Feb. 2003) (split release with Contamino)
  • Kaos svarta mar / Skinning the Lambs (June 14, 2004) Carnal (split release with Svartsyn)
  • Grimalkinz skaldi (June 13, 2008)
  • Antikosmos (April 11, 2008)
  • Hadelik (Sept. 7, 2008) (split release with Sataros Grief)
  • Þyrmir (Oct. 30, 2009)
  • Första trulen (April 26, 2019)

Compilations
  • Arckanum - The 11 Year Anniversary Album (2004)

References
  1. "Vexior". Archived from the original on June 1, 2009.
  2. Badin, Olivier (November 2008), "Prog-Gnosis", Terrorizer (176)
  3. Mincemoyer, John (November 2008), "Arckanum - Antikosmos" (review)", Terrorizer (176)
  4. Simon (2008-01-26). "Interview With Shamaatae Of Arckanum". emofag.net. Archived from the original on 2009-07-09. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
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