Review by Rexorcist for Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors (2002)

I remember having heard the black metal bedut of Arcturus, Aspera Hiems Symfonia, years ago.  I hadn't checked out any of their releases after that because I was in a black metal mood at the time.  Well, I've gone over countless metal albums in recent times and I finally got around to checking out La masquerade infernale, which had plenty of brilliant moments, but was a bit of a hot mess switching from serious metal to opera to circus music.  But The Sham Mirrors was one of the most consistent albums I've ever heard, and it managed to do everything advertized.  It was a very dramatic piece in mood and atmosphere, but it never reached the symphonic bombast of a lot of symphonic metal acts, using it sparingly and accordingly.  The album boasted plenty of odd tempos to keep the avant-garde side strong and healthy, backing sound effects to help the unique mood of the album, and plenty of fantastic rhythms to keep the metallic status strong.  The production of the album brought out all of the best aspects of the aforementioned elements, and as a result we have one of the most accessible but yet weird and wild avant-garde metal albums of all time.  Even Maudlin of the Well and Thy Catafalque have problems balancing experimentation with consistency.  But with The Sham Mirrors, Arcuturs had corrected the biggest and most obvious mistake on La masquerade infernale.  This is serious metal with a passion for oddities.