Arcturus

Arcturus was a metal band formed in Norway in 1987 under the name Mortem. In 1990, the band changed their name to Arcturus (meaning Bear Guardian), after the Behenian fixed star Arcturus.

The band released four 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. On April 16, 2007, it was announced that the band would be breaking up, and more details were revealed in an official statement released on the band's website on April 17th.

The official statement was written by all of the band members, confirming rumours that had been circulating after their Melbourne concert, the last one of the Australian tour, in which Simen "Vortex" Hestn?s, the band's vocalist, introduced the show to the audience with the words "Welcome to the last Arcturus show- ever." The statement went on to say that the split was a 'decision we made some time ago,' and that because of ongoing 'things' in their careers and lives, the members could no longer 'find the time to continue working with this band.' The statement closed with a tribute to the fans of the band, "We are humble and grateful to all the people that have supported and loved us over the years."

There are rumours circulating the internet that Arcturus may reform with Garm as the vocalist. Hellhammer has recently confirmed that an Arcturus reunion is inevitable, and that Garm has shown interest in participating. (page 11) Furthermore, ICS Vortex has mentioned he plans to resurrect "a band or three" in a blog he posted shortly after being removed from Dimmu Borgir.

Line-up History

The original line-up was changed when bassist/vocalist Marius Vold (ex-Thorns), was taken out of the band. The band soon became labeled a black metal super group, 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.

After three full-length albums Rygg decided to leave the band, and was replaced by ?yvind H?geland from the band Spiral Architect. ?yvind performed live with the band, but on January 5th 2005, it was announced that ?yvind had left the band due to his moving too far away to be involved in the band, resulting in him never recording anything with the band. He was replaced by Simen "ICS Vortex" Hestn?s, who had previously performed vocals on three Arcturus tracks ("Master of Disguise", "The Chaos Path", and "Painting My Horror") on La Masquerade Infernale. Upon Carl August Tidemann's leaving the band, Knut Magne Valle joined. In 2003 Tore Moren joined on second guitar for live performances and eventually found himself accepted as an official member of the band. Knut and Tore then shared lead duties on guitar, with Knut on 7 string guitar and Tore using a standard 6 string guitar.

Final Line-up
Steinar Sverd Johnsen, keyboard, synthesizer (also played guitars when they were called Mortem) (1990 - 2007)
Jan Axel "Hellhammer" Blomberg, drums (1990 - 2007)
Knut Magne Valle, guitar (1995 - 2007)
Hugh "Skoll" Mingay, bass (1995 - 2000, 2002 - 2007)
Tore Moren, guitar (2003 - 2007)
ICS Vortex (Simen Hestn?s), vocals (1997 'session', 2005 - 2007)
Former
Kristoffer Rygg (Garm, Trickster G. Rex, Garm Wolf, Fiery G. Maelstrom) - Vocals (All official Arcturus releases before "Sideshow Symphonies" except My Angel)
Carl August Tidemann - Guitars (Aspera Hiems Symfonia/La Masquerade Infernale (guest))
Thomas Thormods?ter Haugen (Samoth) - Guitars (Constellation MCD/MLP)
Marius Vold - Bass and Vocals (My Angel LP, All Mortem releases)
Dag F. Gravem - Bass (On The Sham Mirrors on all tracks except track 6)
?yvind H?geland - Vocals (live 2003-2005)

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Original Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcturus