The Sham Mirrors is the third full-length album by Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 avant-garde metal band Arcturus

Arcturus (band)

Arcturus is an avant-garde metal band formed in Norway in 1987. They named it Arcturus , after the Behenian fixed star Arcturus.-Biography:The band has released four official full-length albums...

. It was released on April 9, 2002.

The Sham Mirrors is a departure from the band's previous albums. It features a much more modern, "outer space"-influenced sound as opposed to the classical-inspired layered melodies of 1997's La Masquerade Infernale

La Masquerade Infernale

La Masquerade Infernale is a 1997 album by Arcturus. Released by Misanthropy Records, the album is a huge step away from the slow, doom-influenced melodic black metal of Aspera Hiems Symfonia...

, and contains elements of trip-hop, ambient music

Ambient music

Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...

 and electronica

Electronica

Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...

 in addition to the band's typical heavy

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 and black metal

Black metal

Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....

 sound. Lyrically, the album deals with abstract science fiction-themed subjects, a departure from the Satanic

Satanism

Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...

 lyrics of earlier work. Cover of the album presents model drawing of the upper part of the Apollo spaceship.

Track listing

Music by Steinar Sverd Johnsen

Steinar Sverd Johnsen

Steinar Sverd Johnsen is a Norwegian keyboardist and composer, born 1972. Sverd last played keyboards and synthesizers in Arcturus and was also the main composer for the band. He formed the band with Jan Axel Blomberg of Mayhem in 1987, originally under the moniker Mortem...

. Lyrics by Kristoffer Rygg

Kristoffer Rygg

Kristoffer Rygg , also known as Garm, Trickster G. and recently also God Head is a Spellemannprisen nominated vocalist, musician and producer known as the frontman of Ulver and former vocalist for Arcturus...

, except tracks 4 and 6 by Jørn H. Sværen.

1. "Kinetic" – 5:25
2. "Nightmare Heaven" – 6:05
3. "Ad Absurdum" – 6:48
4. "Collapse Generation" – 4:13
5. "Star-Crossed" – 5:01
6. "Radical Cut" – 5:08
7. "For to End Yet Again" – 10:33

Arcturus

• Trickster G. Rex
  Kristoffer Rygg
  Kristoffer Rygg , also known as Garm, Trickster G. and recently also God Head is a Spellemannprisen nominated vocalist, musician and producer known as the frontman of Ulver and former vocalist for Arcturus...
  
   - Vocals
• Knut M. Valle - Guitars
• Steinar Sverd Johnsen
  Steinar Sverd Johnsen
  Steinar Sverd Johnsen is a Norwegian keyboardist and composer, born 1972. Sverd last played keyboards and synthesizers in Arcturus and was also the main composer for the band. He formed the band with Jan Axel Blomberg of Mayhem in 1987, originally under the moniker Mortem...
  
   - Keyboards
• Dag F. Gravem - Bass
• Hellhammer
  Jan Axel Blomberg
  Jan Axel "Hellhammer" Blomberg is a three time Spellemannprisen award-winning heavy metal drummer. He is most well known for his drumming with the band Mayhem, with which he began his career...
  
   - Drums

Additional Musicians

• Ihsahn
  Ihsahn
  Ihsahn is a Norwegian composer, guitar, bass, keyboard player and vocalist. He is best known for his work with Norwegian black metal band Emperor. He has appeared in Thou Shalt Suffer, up until March 4, 2006, played in Peccatum with his wife Ihriel , and now devotes himself to his solo project,...
  
   - black metal
  Black metal
  Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
  
   vocals on "Radical Cut"
• Mathias Eick
  Mathias Eick
  Mathias Eick is a Norwegian jazz musician born near the town of Eidsfoss in the county of Vestfold, Norway. He is mainly known as a musician on the jazz label ECM Records. His main instrument is the trumpet, but he also plays double bass, vibraphone, piano and guitar.In his lifetime Eick has...
  
  - Ubu's horn on tracks 3,4 and 6
• Hugh Steven James Mingay - Low frequentation on "Radical Cut"

Production

• Produced By G. & Phantom FX
• Recorded & Engineered By G., Valle & Johnsen
• Mixed By Tore Ylwizaker at Ambrassaden
• Mastered By Tom La Bomba at Strype Audio