#AlbumReview: Arckanum – Beswærilsin

Band: Arckanum
Album: Beswærilsin
Label: Darkness Shall Rise Productions
Release date: October 31st, 2026
Country: Sweden
Format reviewed: High-quality digital recording

#AlbumReview: Arckanum – Beswærilsin via Darkness Shall Rise Productions by Ioana

One of the most enduring projects in the Swedish black metal underground is without a doubt Arckanum. Founded by Johan “Shamatae” Lagher back in 1992, the project was temporarily dismantled inbetween 2018 and 2026, time during which Lagher dedicated himself to his ventures as an author and deepening his already established spiritual practice. That being said, Arckanum draws directly from said practice, which syncresizes elements of Chaos-Gnosticism, Anti-Cosmic Satanism and Old Norse Religion, a fact which is made obvious by everything from album and song titles and lyrics, to the imagery associated with the project. All that being said, when the release of Beswærilsinwas announced, it came as a rather big, yet welcome shock to an audience that was more or less sure that the journey of Arckanum had come to an end. Not yet, it seems! Arckanum was also not the only Swedish black metal project to make an unexpected comeback this year, as a similar endeavor was brought to light by Armagedda,who broke their silence with a two song EP. But that is a whole other story.

Now, as a brief note before getting into the important part of this review, I ought to mention that Arckanum is not a project I have spent nearly enough time with, even though I first encountered it quite a while ago. Revisiting the albums ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞand Sviga læcertainly proved helpful in becoming re-acquainted with the later era sound of Arckanum, but not nearly enough to provide a comprehensive opinion on the musical context of the album at hand, as I prefer to do in the case of long-running projects. However, Beswærilsinis undoubtedly an album that can be enjoyed greatly on its own, so there is plenty to go into in any case. But it’s about time I ceased rambling.

Upon the first listen, something that I noticed rather soon was, the similarities both with the previously mentioned older records, but also an even bigger emphasis on including more complexity in the songwriting. However, I doubt that can be quantified given that Arckanum has never been a one-rhythm-only type of project. It is also worth bringing up that the production is very fitting in the context of songwriting, as it retains a characteristic rawness, but the bass and drums are noticeably more emphasized and the sound of the album is a lot more “thick” than I had originally anticipated. All that being said, the sound of the album is full and immersive, which, when paired with the almost storytelling-type of vocal delivery (think lyrics accentuated more as if they were recited than outright sung, but with plenty of more melodic moments, especially during choruses), creates a very immersive atmosphere, not too dissimilar to that of watching a film or reading a mythology book.

Another element which adds to this immersive quality of the album are the guitar riffs, which I’ve found to be strikingly catchy, as, for example is the case with the second track of the album “Utgarþzeþer”. The alternation between the lead melodies and the groovier rhythm arrangements makes it a truly captivating piece of music, but the thing that completes it is the part in the second half of the song, where, for quite a while, the song moves into a folk passage, built around an epic-yet-tragic sounding flute melody, and none of it feels out of place, even when the blast beats kick in. And to finally blow everyone’s mind, there’s a solo at the end. I genuinely have nothing but words of praise to say regarding this track, and by the way things are going, my opinion of the album may not vary all that much.

However, one shouldn’t be left with the impression that Beswærilsinis an epic album and just that. Far from that, actually. There are a fair share of dark, gritty moments that can’t help but remind me faintly of the aforementioned Armagedda, but also something like Taake. One track I could offer as an example for this is “Rymz Rand”, one of, if not the most unforgiving track on the entire album. Upon listening to it more and more, the original sensation it gave me, that of wandering through a dense, almost claustrophobic forest in pitch black darkness, only became stronger.

On a different note, the only thing that proved to be more challenging in my listening experience regarding this album is that it takes quite a few listens to truly start noticing the intricacies of it. In my case at least, it started clicking around the fourth listen, but even now, I feel like it may take some more before I have truly grasped the album properly, at least on the strictly sonic side of things. The lyrics are a whole other story, and beyond looking up the translations, sitting with them should, rightfully, take a while. However, I would argue this is not a drawback of the album, but more a trademark experience in enjoying a lot of great black metal. Not everything needs to be obvious on the first try.

All that being said, despite not being all that well versed in Arckanum’s discography, this album truly helped spark my interest in this project, properly, this time around, and it turned out to be a great listen in spite of this. 9/10

Band
Website
Instagram
Facebook
Bandcamp
Bandcamp 2
YouTube
Soundcloud
Amazon Music
Apple Music
Deezer
Tidal
Spotify

Label
Website
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Bandcamp
YouTube

9/10  Epic Storm
**Please support the underground! It’s vital to the future of our genre**
#WeAreBlessedAltarZine
#TheZineSupportingTheUnderground