It hasn’t even been a year yet and Sweden’s ARCKANUM has already returned with the album Helvitismyrkr. This is not a complaint at all, but rather a nice surprise. ARCKANUM really seems to be churning out the albums and EPs, as this is their 8th release since 2008.

The songs on Helvitismyrkr take on a blackened thrash tone more than anything. In Svarta is an instrumental with lots of crunching guitars and a mellower drum beat. Nifldreki goes into a thrashing beat and then into a black metal frenzy. The majority of the songs seem to follow this pattern. The guitars on this album have a tuned down and rather dirty sound to them. A signature sound of ARCKANUM. Sole member Shamaatae is truly a gifted musician and songwriter. Taking on all instruments on this recording, as well as the previous. There has always been much admiration for one man bands. With the drums sounding real and not programmed, several guitar parts to each song and intricate bass lines. It makes one wonder how these songs all come together in his mind, before each instrument is separately recorded and mixed together. Sounding in perfect form. Shamaatae has a gravely growl and all songs are growled in Swedish. Let’s not forget the lyrics, which draw on inspiration from runic witchcraft, old Norse tradition, anti cosmic Satanism and chaos Gnosticism, as well as Pan. Make no mistake, there is nothing Pagan about ARCKANUM here. If you liked previous ARCKANUM releases, then you will like this one as well, as it follows in the same vein and really doesn’t stray from the original sound that ARCKANUM is known for.