Aspera Hiems Symfonia
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Aspera Hiems Symfonia
''Aspera Hiems Symfonia'' (Latin for ''"Harsh Winter Symphony"'') is the debut studio album by the Norwegian avant-garde metal band Arcturus. ''Aspera'' is the only album Arcturus released to showcase a melodic black metal sound, though it still contains many of the experimental elements that would be expanded upon on their following albums, which saw the band shift permanently into the genres of avant-garde and progressive metal. Four of the album's songs are re-recorded versions of tracks from the '' Constellation'' EP, whereas the other four are new songs. Background The music on ''Aspera'' is relatively down-tempo, atmospheric black metal, and is much more restrained in character and lyrical content than major black metal acts such as Mayhem and Darkthrone. The album's production is also thin and lo-fi in nature. The lyrical themes revolve around nature, winter, alchemy, astronomy, and Viking folklore and mythology. Re-release In 2002, the album was remastered, along ...
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Arcturus (band)
Arcturus is a Norwegian avant-garde metal band formed in 1991. Their name, which means "Bear Guardian", references the Behenian fixed star Arcturus. History The band has released five official full-length albums. Arcturus has experimented throughout their career, extracting influences and incorporating elements from all over the musical spectrum including black metal and classical music, but the band was rooted as a metal outfit. Early days The original line-up was changed when bassist/vocalist Marius Vold (formerly of Thorns) was taken out of the band. The band soon became labeled a black metal supergroup, consisting of Kristoffer "Garm" Rygg on vocals, Carl August Tidemann on guitar, Skoll on bass and the two other original members, Hellhammer on drums and Steinar Sverd Johnsen as main composer/keyboard player. In 1994, Samoth played guitars on the EP ''Constellation'' and released it on his record label, Nocturnal Art. Post-Garm era After three full-length albums, Rygg l ...
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Astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest include planets, natural satellite, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxy, galaxies, and comets. Relevant phenomena include supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts, quasars, blazars, pulsars, and cosmic microwave background radiation. More generally, astronomy studies everything that originates beyond atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere. Cosmology is a branch of astronomy that studies the universe as a whole. Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history made methodical observations of the night sky. These include the Babylonian astronomy, Babylonians, Greek astronomy, Greeks, Indian astronomy, Indians, Egyptian astronomy, Egyptians, Chinese astronomy, Chinese, Maya civilization, Maya, and many anc ...
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Steinar Sverd Johnsen
Steinar Sverd Johnsen is a Norwegian keyboardist and composer, born 1972. Sverd plays keyboards and synthesizers in Arcturus and was also the main composer for the band. He formed the band with Jan Axel Blomberg (also known as Hellhammer) of Mayhem in 1987, originally under the moniker Mortem (where he played guitar). The band split up in April 2007, but reformed in 2011. In 1998, Sverd was recruited by the band, The Kovenant, known at the time as Covenant, along with Hellhammer. After the release of the album ''Nexus Polaris'', Sverd and the band parted ways. Sverd has also been a guest on a few releases by prominent Norwegian black metal bands, Ulver and Satyricon. Discography With Mortem * ''Slow Death'' (demo, 1989) * ''Slow Death'' (EP, 1990) With Arcturus *''Promo 90'' (Demo, 1990) *''My Angel'' (EP, 1991) *''Constellation (EP, 1994) *''Aspera Hiems Symfonia'' (full-length, 1995) *''La Masquerade Infernale'' (full-length, 1997) *''Disguised Masters'' (compilation, 1999) *' ...
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Bass Guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and scale length, and typically four to six strings or courses. Since the mid-1950s, the bass guitar has largely replaced the double bass in popular music. The four-string bass is usually tuned the same as the double bass, which corresponds to pitches one octave lower than the four lowest-pitched strings of a guitar (typically E, A, D, and G). It is played primarily with the fingers or thumb, or with a pick. To be heard at normal performance volumes, electric basses require external amplification. Terminology According to the ''New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', an "Electric bass guitar sa Guitar, usually with four heavy strings tuned E1'–A1'–D2–G2." It also defines ''bass'' as "Bass (iv). A contraction of Double bas ...
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Hugh Mingay
Hugh Steven James Mingay (born 12 December 1974), also known by his stage name Skoll, is a heavy metal musician. Musical career He became a member of the Norwegian band Arcturus from 1995 to 2000 for the recording of the album ''Aspera Hiems Symfonia'', but he left the band just before ''The Sham Mirrors'' was released and was credited as a session member. Skoll came back to the band in 2002 and remained there until the band broke up in 2007. Hugh has also been the bassist for the Norwegian band Ulver between 1994 and 1998 and was formerly a member of the band Ved Buens Ende, under his pseudonym Skoll. Discography With Arcturus *''Aspera Hiems Symfonia'' (Studio Album, 1996) *''La Masquerade Infernale'' (Studio Album, 1997) *''The Sham Mirrors'' (Studio Album, 2002) *''Aspera Hiems Symfonia/Constellation/My Angel'' (Compilation, 2002) *''Sideshow Symphonies'' (Studio Album, 2005) *''Shipwrecked in Oslo'' (Live Album, 2005) * '' Arcturian'' - (Studio Album, 2015) With U ...
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Electric Guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic guitar exist). It uses one or more pickups to convert the vibration of its strings into electrical signals, which ultimately are reproduced as sound by loudspeakers. The sound is sometimes shaped or electronically altered to achieve different timbres or tonal qualities on the amplifier settings or the knobs on the guitar from that of an acoustic guitar. Often, this is done through the use of effects such as reverb, distortion and "overdrive"; the latter is considered to be a key element of electric blues guitar music and jazz and rock guitar playing. Invented in 1932, the electric guitar was adopted by jazz guitar players, who wanted to play single-note guitar solos in large big band ensembles. Early proponents of the electric guitar on ...
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Carl August Tidemann
Carl August Tidemann (born 7 June 1971) is a highly technical Norwegian Neo-classical metal guitarist and composer, best known for his work in progressive bands like Arcturus and Winds. Discography Solo # Stylistic Changes (1996) With Tritonus # Evolution ''Demo'' (1993) # Shadowland ''Demo'' (1994) # A Gathering Of 8 Norwegian Prog Metal Bands ''Compilation'' (1997) # Prison Of Light (2007) With Arcturus # Aspera Hiems Symfonia (1995) # La Masquerade Infernale (guest) (1997) With Winds # Of Entity and Mind EP (2001) # Reflections of the I (2002) # The Imaginary Direction of Time (2004) # Prominence and Demise (2007) # Into Transgressions of Thought (2015) With Fleurety # Department of Apocalyptic Affairs ''Department of Apocalyptic Affairs'' is the second album by the Norwegian avant-garde metal band Fleurety. Style The album shows Fleurety moving away from black metal to get into a more avant-garde and experimental sound, adding trip hop, .. ...
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Vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble of musicians, such as a choir. Singers may perform as soloists or accompanied by anything from a single instrument (as in art song or some jazz styles) up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Different singing styles include art music such as opera and Chinese opera, Indian music, Japanese music, and religious music styles such as gospel, traditional music styles, world music, jazz, blues, ghazal, and popular music styles such as pop, rock, and electronic dance music. Singing can be formal or informal, arranged, or improvised. It may be done as a form of religious devotion, as a hobby, as a source of pleasure, comfort, or ritual as part of music education or ...
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Kristoffer Rygg
Kristoffer Rygg (born 9 September 1976), also known as Garm, Trickster G. Rex and God Head, is a heavy-metal vocalist, musician and producer known primarily for his work with Ulver, Arcturus, and Borknagar. Biography Born in Oslo but raised in Cascais, Kristoffer Rygg was 16 years old when he formed Ulver, considered one of the most iconic bands from the Norwegian black metal scene. He was an instrumental instigator for later subcategories such as avant-garde metal. In addition, he was vocalist for Borknagar (1995–1997) and Arcturus (1993–2003), both of which comprise many eminent musicians from the early Norwegian black metal scene. Rygg was responsible for introducing Borknagar to the singer who replaced him, ICS Vortex, when he resigned from the band. Kristoffer Rygg possesses a wide range of vocal textures and styles, ranging from baritone, countertenor, crooning and even black metal style screaming. He often records multiple tracks of himself to create dense male ...
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AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the database was first made available on the Internet in 1994. AllMusic is owned by RhythmOne. History AllMusic was launched as ''All Music Guide'' by Michael Erlewine, a "compulsive archivist, noted astrologer, Buddhist scholar and musician". He became interested in using computers for his astrological work in the mid-1970s and founded a software company, Matrix, in 1977. In the early 1990s, as CDs replaced LPs as the dominant format for recorded music, Erlewine purchased what he thought was a CD of early recordings by Little Richard. After buying it he discovered it was a "flaccid latter-day rehash". Frustrated with the labeling, he researched using metadata to create a music guide. In 1990, in Big Rapids, Michigan, he founded ''All Music Guide' ...
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My Angel (EP)
''My Angel'' is an EP and the debut release by Norwegian avant-garde metal band Arcturus. It was released on 7" vinyl on 8 July 1991, through the record label Putrifaction Records. The EP is notable for being one of the earliest releases to be labelled symphonic black metal. Background Arcturus's first work published on an actual record label, ''My Angel'' represents a halfway point between band leader Steinar Sverd Johnsen's original project Mortem, a death metal band, and Arcturus's later symphonic black metal and avant-garde metal albums. Although symphonic metal and black metal elements are evident throughout the EP, the overall style is gloomy, down-tempo death/doom metal with low, growled vocals by Mortem's vocalist Marius Vold. Although the songs are simplistic compared to Arcturus' later works, traces of what would become the band's signature style are evident. ''My Angel'' was released with three different cover colors: green, yellow and blue. It is unknown how ...
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Remaster
Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A master is the definitive recording version that will be replicated for the end user, commonly into other formats (e.g. LP records, CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays). A batch of copies is often made from a single original master recording, which might itself be based on previous recordings. For example, sound effects (e.g. a door opening, punching sounds, falling down the stairs, a bell ringing) might have been added from copies of sound effect tapes similar to modern sampling to make a radio play for broadcast. Problematically, several different levels of masters often exist for any one audio release. As an example, examine the way a typical music album from the 1960s was created. Musicians and vocalists were recorded on multi-track tape. This tape w ...
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