SIDESHOW SYMPHONIES

even at their "worst", Arcturus stands head and shoulders above the crowd, on this, their final release. This album is a grower to be certain, with more focus placed on keys and overall feel rather than speed and insanity. The artistic approach is still there though. There are some real catchy moments on this disc (some of the guitar solos are outstanding, as are the guest female vocals on a couple tracks), and it should not be ignored merely because "Garm" (the original vocalist) is not on it. The replacement vocalist (Simen Hestnaes of Borknagar/Dimmu Borgir) does a fine job singing mostly clean and few growled vocals. His voice is very powerful and compliments the music rather well. In fact, he is the best replacement they could have thought of, as he guested on a few tracks on "La Masquerade Infernale".....

as already stated, this one needs time to sink in, but all great albums do. This one is no exception.