Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors Vinyl LP

LaUlvenDrepeWed, 21/12/2011 - 03:20

One of my favorite bands ever, so it's about damn time I owned one of their vinyl.

Arcturus definitely do NOT get the recognition they deserve dearly. I dare say that this is the MOST unique band in the world, and to top it all off they are masterful musicians. The gods... THANK YOU ARCTURUS!

Some were hand-numbered and some were not. This release was limited to 350 copies. So yeah, pretty hard to come by. This is a fucking great, heavy avant garde metal album.

Tape / Vinyl / CD / Recording etc

Not for sale or trade

Year: 2002

Bands:

hungbyintestines on Wed, 21/12/2011 - 23:21

Awesome! I didn't know this was such a limited release, I swear I've seen this in a local record shop... Must find it!

LaUlvenDrepe on Wed, 21/12/2011 - 23:39

I wish I could find releases like these in local record shops, but all they have is the standard stuff that everybody is used to... like Led Zeppelin and The Beatles, etc. Anyway, you should totally get this on vinyl, it's worth every cent.

I can't believe that there is such a small amount of people that like this band. I mean, I'm glad that they are not mainstream but damn, not even the underground community cares much for them. Everybody just tells me "their first album is awesome." It is, but so are the rest of them.

FarFarNorth on Thu, 22/12/2011 - 00:23

That vinyl looks delicious. I do enjoy Arcturus all around, not just their early work. Many people don't get their performance aspect and their ability to not take themselves so seriously, yet in a serious way (paradox?), so it's a self-selecting audience they get who either appreciate them a whole lot, or not at all. I've long grown out of that "kvlt attitvde" that says the less people know a band, the better. Too many great talented bands out there that deserve wider appreciation than they get.

LaUlvenDrepe on Thu, 22/12/2011 - 00:37

I know what you mean and I agree. Personally, I like it when a band gets the respect and audience they deserve, but not to a mainstream degree. I mean, if I were in their place I would prefer a small appreciative audience than a massive swarm of retarded fans that don't understand the music, and most likely go along with the rest of the herd to "fit in." But I like it when the appreciation is somewhere in between. Another band that is largely underrated in my opinion is Obtained Enslavement, I mean the album Witchcraft... HOLY SHIT man is that good! As far as Arcturus goes, La Masquerade Infernale is my fav. It's dark Satanic atmosphere and tales is just fantastic. Then would be Aspera Hiems Symfonia, then The Sham Mirrors, and finally Sideshow Symphonies.

LaUlvenDrepe on Thu, 22/12/2011 - 21:53

Thanks once more my friend. I got one more rare vinyl to take pictures of, but it has not gotten here yet. That one I know you will love for sure...

hungbyintestines on Thu, 22/12/2011 - 22:23

Can't wait to see what it is, you have some good discs.

LaUlvenDrepe on Thu, 22/12/2011 - 22:25

I hope you like folk metal... hehehe.

hellbloodfire666 on Mon, 09/07/2012 - 17:47

thats awesome you got this in your possession! I wish I had this one and La masquerade infernale. i procrastinated over the last 10 years, and now im unlikely to ever get this one.

LaUlvenDrepe on Mon, 09/07/2012 - 20:24

I know how you feel. Before owning this LP my collection never felt right. I had some amazing stuff already, sure, but nothing from Arcturus (which was just low, seeing as they are one of my absolute faves).

Needless to say I almost went fucking crazy when I got this in the mail, haha. 'It was about time' is all I could think of. By that point I had been collecting records for like 2 and a half years, so it was way overdue in my opinion. I love this album.

LifeOfDeath on Sat, 19/07/2014 - 20:05

I bought this album on CD from flea market today for 1€. Perfect condition too :P How high would you rate this album when comparing to other Arcturus albums?

LaUlvenDrepe on Thu, 07/08/2014 - 17:47

Hey man!! Sorry, I didn't see your comment until now! I hate that I have to look through all the pages of crap I have posted up to see if there are any new comments :/

Anyway, that's awesome that you got this for so cheap!! Haha. To answer your question, well... as you know I have a very high opinion of this band, so yeah... comparing their albums is difficult for others to understand. I do have a list of favorites from greatest to least, but as far as the amount I like one more than the other is concerned, yeah it's by like a tiiiiiiiiiiny little bit, very minimal.

As it stands now though, my favorites from greatest to least are 1) La Masquerade... 2) The Sham Mirrors 3) Aspera... 4) Sideshow...

All of Arcturus' albums pretty much sound like it might as well be a different band, but they're all fantastic. This one has a very VERY deep space-like sound to it, with Garm's vocals being more straight-forward.