Arcturus

Arcturus emerged as an ever-shifting venture anchored by founding keyboardist Steiner "Sverd" Johnsen and drummer Hellhammer, whose resume also includes membership in Mayhem, among the most notorious Norwegian black metal ensembles, drawing additional personnel from other Norwegian black metal luminaries. Their first full-length release demonstrated that the project ranked among the strongest black metal acts of the late '90s. The band originated as a partnership between Sverd and Hellhammer alone, yielding the 7" single "My Angel" on a modest European underground imprint. The pair subsequently recruited Ulver vocalist Garm and Emperor axeman Samoth, after which the quartet tracked the bass-free mini-album Constellation—an uncommon approach within metal. Following Samoth’s imprisonment for unrelated offenses, bassist Skoll (formerly of Ved Buens Ende) and guitarist Carl August Tidemann (of Tritonus) joined the lineup. This configuration completed the debut album Aspera Hiems Symfonia for Century Black, which attracted wider notice and favorable reviews. The follow-up opus La Masquerade Infernale appeared initially in Europe only, with Disguised Masters arriving in 1999.