Pecctum
Lost In Reverie

August 2004
Released: 2004, The End Records
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: Waspman

Returning after a 4 year absence, ex-Emperor leader Ihsahn returns with his wife Ihriel with their ever-disturbing project and a new full-length, LOST IN REVERIE. After Ihsahn dissolved Emperor, it seemed like he would have as much time as he wanted to devote to Peccatum, and for awhile this was true, with 3 discs released in 1999-’00. Since then though, it has been absolute silence from this Norwegian couple. Without doubt though, for fans of truly beautiful and yet unsettling music, LOST IN REVERIE is worth the wait.

Opening with the peculiarly fantastic “Desolate Ever After”, Peccatum serves notices that conventional musical structures have once again been thrown out the window. The song goes from atmospheric to haunting menace, to spaced out, only to finish with a soothingly beautiful quietude (courtesy of Ihriel’s sylph-like vocals). Weird eh? Well that’s only the first 8 minutes of this 50-minute ride! Peccatum has many more musical tricks up their sleeves including jazz, electronica, black metal (it is nice to hear Ihsahn’s screeches again), trip-hop, and pure rock ‘n roll. There’s even a return of Ihsahn’s King Diamond-ish vocal moans. Still, despite the seemingly disparate parts, the music is somehow woven into a powerful, yet surprisingly delicate whole that encompasses a broad range of emotions.

While there are a couple of missteps on here (what is up with the first half of “Veils of Blue” and most of “Black Star”?), overall this is a completely engrossing album that keeps revealing new rewards for the listener each time it is played. For the adventurous, this is an album not to be missed.