ARCTURUS - ASPERA HIEMS SYMFONIA (1996)

On a reissue green/black vinyl by the great Kyrck Productions from 2012. It comes with a 8-page booklet, poster and is limited to 300 copies.

Have already done a post on my Instagram account @herr_perdition about 2 years ago or something like that. But this record deserves another post and I haven't written one for the blog so here we go I will write more about the band then rather the album.

The latin title of Aspera Hiems Symfonia doesn't fit for when I found it on CD in the summer of 1996 at one of my local record stores. It was actually one employee that used to tell me about new Black Metal releases that showed me the album I listened to it at the store with headphones.  

About 30 seconds into To Thou Who Dwellest In The Night I was already convinced that the digipack CD was going home with me. A format I was and am still a sucker for now and definitely back then.

Also listened to Wintry Grey over there but then I just wanted to get the damn CD home to a more fitting environment (my teenage room). The record was so amazing that Arcturus became one of my new favorite Black Metal bands in just approx 1.5 hours (bus home and a playthrough) and that still remains to this day.

Arcturus have only released brilliant records throughout their career. Well that remixed album called Disguised Masters (1999) I hated it at the time of its release but nowadays I can appreciate it more but it's mainly for collectors and die hard fans like me.

Is it perfect? Did they need gangsta rap on Master Of Disguise and all that trip-hop? Hell no! But some of those remixes are done in a good way but the originals are 1000 times better at least. The new songs the opening 49 seconds White Tie Black Noise and Deception Genesis fells like leftovers from La Masquerade Infernale (1997). The "ensemble version" of Ad Astra is a great one though and the highlight of the album.

Some say that the Sideshow Symphonies (2005) record isn't as good as the rest of their discography. I do agree but still an amazing record that I would rate a 9 out of 10 if I had to put a review number on it. 

But let's talk a bit about this LP release another Kyrck Production release a company one can or could always rely on because they haven't released anything for years. I got vinyls & CD's by Ulver, Ved Buens Ende, Strid, Manes etc. all of them are immaculate releases. Kyrck always went the extra mile to make sure to please their customers got their moneys worth.

DO NOT get the 2002 compilation with Aspera Hiems Symfonia/Constellation/My Angel release! The remastering of Aspera Hiems Symfonia sounds terrible at least the 2 x vinyl album that I own. It should be sold and not pester my Arcturus collection because it's so bad. However it does have 2 bonus songs from the Aspera Hiems Symfonia session.

This Kyrck release also got a bonus song a early 1994 rehearsal version of The Bodkin & The Quietus or as it's simply called here The Bodkin.... Would've been nice with those 2 songs from the 2002 compilation The Deep Is The Skies and Cosmojam but with or without any bonus songs this is how a proper Aspera Hiems Symfonia LP release should be.

The album was actually released on vinyl as early as 1996 but only on a picture disc LP. There's also a misprint of that release that has the same image on both sides.

I do like picture discs but try and avoid them mainly because of the many fragile prints that clearly was never meant to be played on a record player. I only want records in my collection that I will play.

Anyway cannot recommend Arcturus and this album enough!

BATHORY - BLOOD ON ICE (1996); NORDLAND I (2002) & II (2003)

The Blood On Ice vinyl is a reissue from 2003 that comes on one LP by Black Mark Production.

The Nordland I & II is a compilation reissue from 2013 that comes on 2 vinyls released on Black Mark Production.

Bathory viking era part II of II. Finally conclude this short series this has been ready at the blog for quite some time now but due to Instagram's text limitations it took me awhile before I could write a version I was okay with over there. Anyway...

All the Jubileum I - III compilation albums showed there were still some gold left in the Bathory vaults. I'm not gonna go through them all here. Also in interviews with Quorthon it had been reveled that there was a unreleased Viking Metal album in his possession that was rumoured almost finished also.

That album was the concept album Blood On Ice it would have been the 5th Bathory album and it should have been released before Hammerheart (1990). However Quorthon was worried at the time how the fans would feel about this drastic change of style and it was the reason it was never being released.

But the legend that Blood On Ice was a nearly finished album was clearly an exaggeration. That Quorthon himself states in the CD booklet that was included in the original release.

I remember that The Lake appeared on some compilation CD in 1996 that came with a Swedish Metal magazine called CU-Magazine I had subscribed to since 1994 (still do). That was an amazing song and it's still my favorite on Blood On Ice. Listened so damn much to that one in the summer of 1996.

However I didn’t buy Blood On Ice at its release in May of 1996 though. Not sure if I had Twilight Of The Gods and Hammerheart on CD at the time because I was very pleased with the songs included on Jubileum I & II from those albums. Remember those were the two of the six first Bathory albums I bought last at the same time might've been as late as 1997/98.

When I heard Blood On Ice at my local record stores I just couldn’t get into it. Also being 16 years old one had to prioritize which records to buy. Think I tried at least 3 or 4 times at least and no one I knew had the album

Eventually bought the CD when I got my first job a few years later. It still took quite some time before I thought of it as the masterpiece it really is. Would say it’s my 3rd favorite of among the Bathory Viking Metal albums.

Heard so many different % numbers regarding the material on Blood On Ice being recorded in 3 sessions February and October of 1988 also in June of 1989. But I don’t know if any of that's true?

Knowing how Quorthon was I believe MUCH from the 1980’s were re-recorded at the Hellhole Studio in Stockholm in June and July of 1995. Sometimes when I listen to the album I try and pinpoint which part might be from 80's recording. But who really knows?

There is a double edged sword. I want... But also don't... That all the mysteries surrounding Bathory would be reveled by now. The two men with all the answers are both dead now...

But I don't want someone like Jonas Åkerlund who claimed just 1.5 years ago on a Swedish Metal podcast that he played drums on their debut Bathory (1984). While he in fact only recorded 2 songs with Bathory. Sacrifice and The Return Of Darkness And Evil from the Scandinavian Metal Attack (1984) split compilation.

If one wants there's a ton of Bathory/Quorthon interviews to go through in magazines and fanzines many that are posted online.

One of the best articles I ever read about Bathory was the 22 pages special that was in Sweden Rock Magazine issues #1/2015 and #2/2015 by Thomas Väänänen (ex. Thyrfing). Where he does a very interesting interview with Börje "Boss" Forsberg (1944 - 2017) the father of Ace "Quorthon" Forsberg.

There's also interviews with Vvornth, Frederick Melander, Ann Boleyn, Peter Stjärnvind, Tore "Necromorbus" Stjerna, Micke Broberg and Cliff Lundberg. I'm not aware of any English translation online sadly. But if you're a serious Bathory collector I think it's worth getting those two magazines anyway. Some amazing photos and other gems are included there.

Another wish that I really would like to have come true is all the unreleased Bathory songs that's said to be kept somewhere to get released. Read somewhere and totally understand why and shouldn't have to explain that Boss did not want to release those while he was still alive. After the tragic death of his son in 2004.

Me, everybody and their mother thought that the compilation albums In Memory of Quorthon Volume I - III (2006) would probably include every or at least a some of the unreleased Bathory songs. But those records although filled with excellent material by the legendary Quorthon (1966 - 2004) failed big time in that department. However I respect Boss decision there.

To give you an idea of what there's supposed to exist:

• EP recorded after Bathory (1984) either called Necronomicon or Maleficarum Quorthon did not remember which.
• In 1985 a Black Metal album called Occulta was recorded.
• 28 songs recorded in 1987 between Under The Sign Of The Black Mark & Blood Fire Death.
• Between 1986-88 Bathory experimented a lot and 20 to 30 songs was recorded for a double album called Valhalla some of songs ended up on the Hammerheart, Blood Fire Death, Blood On Ice.and on the Jubileum compilations.
• After Hammerheart Quorthon wanted to play brutal music again a album called Requiem (NOTHING like the 1994 one with the same name) with 6 or 7 songs were recorded some not all finished. The brilliant Crawl To Your Cross is supposedly from that session that appeared on Jubileum I.

There's even MORE material but those are the ones I'm most interested in. Don't know how complete any of those recordings are but even if they were just demo, rehearsal or unfinished songs without vocals. I would still buy it all that without any hesitation. 

Anyway let's finally get into Blood On Ice after all those words. Sometimes I tend drift too far from the subject, this was all Bathory related at least.

Released on the 27th of May in 1996. After an intro the title track Blood On Ice gets it started and although not the best song it serves its purpose good enough for the album. Then follows a bunch of amazing songs. Man Of Iron a great 2,5 min track with an acoustic guitar and Quorthon's vocals there's some other elements on it but a great one.

Then a personal favorite the fast paced One Eyed Old Man that has a great break in the middle with an old man speaking before the song kick off again.

The Sword and The Stallion are almost equally as great maybe The Stallion being just slightly better. The Woodwoman is another great song a bit uneven for it being a favorite but still this is so good that many bands would be lucky to have written in their entire career.

I have listened too The Lake so much in my days but I never get tired by it. My absolute favorite on Blood On Ice by far. Misinterpreted the lyrics on that one for many years... Heard something completely different then:
"At the bottom of the lake. My two eyes will shine like the stars At the bottom of the lake I will see no matter how near or far"
but that's besides the point a clear 10 out of 10 song.

Although I don't like the sound or the guitar intro to Gods Of Thunder Of Wind And Of Rain when the drums kick in the song takes off it's one of my favorites on the album. It's follow by 1 minute The Ravens just Quorthon and an acoustic guitar. In my opinion that one should have ended Blood On Ice.

However the longest song on it the almost 10 minutes long The Revenge Of The Blood On Ice comes next. It's not a bad song I do like it but it feels like it written in a hurry and feels unnecessary it could been some bonus song for some reissue even if Bathory never did that.

The almost 54 minutes long Blood On Ice was a great release. Just wished that I had realized it earlier when it was initially released in the 1996. But albums that grows on you with time usually gives you more in the end.

Also got to mention the beautiful cover artwork that a man that doesn't need any introduction did on all these records Kristian "Necrolord" Wåhlin. The original Nordland I and II artwork are the same just inverted and the color are changed. I really like the one used on this compilation LP.

Actually Nordland I & II are only available on picture disc LP's if you want them on standalone vinyls. That's why I bought the compilation although picture discs looks amazing it's seldom I play any of those because in my experience they're too fragile. But I would buy them separately if they were available.

I’m so glad the 2 last albums from Quorthon was as amazing as the Nordland I & II were. Because the previous one Destroyer Of Worlds (2001) was very close to being a complete train wreck with too many different elements/directions. Although that was the idea with that record, to please every fan or each era of Bathory... More on that in another post..

They are of course very closely connected musically. As they were released very close to each other Nordland I in November of 2002, Nordland II in March of 2003 and recorded at the same time I assume.

If you've read this interview published in August of 2001 there Quorthon states that it would be 1 album with 14-15 songs. So it was meant to be released as just as one single album. Other interesting links can be found over at Bathory Hordes.

Have to say that I'm glad that in the end they released Nordland in two parts with 20 songs just more Bathory greatness in my opinion.

There’s so many amazing songs on these two. From the instrumental bombastic epic intros Prelude & Fanfare on both albums. Epic is a word I would use for many of my favorites of these two.

I'll try to pick out just a few favorites (because they're many): Nordland, Winterblot, Dragon Breath, Ring Of Gold and Great Hall Awaits Fallen Brother from from part I.

And from part II: Blooded Shore, Sea Wolf, The Land, Death And Resurrection Of A Northern Son and The Messenger.

Excellent Bathory epic timeless sounding tracks. Do think that maybe part I is better throughout while part II has better "highlights". But they're so closely connected that I see them as basically one album.

Have to admit though when Nordland I & II were announced I wasn't that interested in them and took me many years to realize their greatness. Destroyer Of Worlds, Octagon especially but also Requiem that I do like, had really tarnished the Bathory name a bit and it wasn't obvious to purchase them at release.

I felt at the time that going back to the Viking Metal style seemed like Quorthon was reaching a bit and I didn't expect them to be any good. Fucking hell how wrong I was!

With these two posts one can say I ranked all the "viking albums" and except for Twilight Of The Gods that I consider to be the best one. As far as Hammerheart; Blood On Ice and Nordland I & II goes they aren’t that far apart in terms of quality.

That should give you a basic idea of just how brilliant Nordland I & II truly are.

And with that I conclude this series. Don't know what Bathory subject I'll tackle next but have some ideas because I've been lost in Quorthon's music since last autumn.