Arcana (Swedish band)

For bands with a similar name, see Arcana (American band) and Arkarna.

Arcana is Swedish neoclassical dark wave band created in 1994 by Peter Bjärgö.^[1][2][3]

Arcana
Arcana at the 2008 Mithras Garden Festival in Koblenz, Germany
Background information
Origin	Sweden
Genres	Neoclassical dark wave, darkwave, dark ambient
Years active	1994–present
Labels	Cold Meat Industry (1996–2003) Erebus Odora (2003–2006) Kalinkaland Records (2006 – present)
Members	Peter Bjärgö Ann-Mari Thim Stefan Eriksson Ia Bjärgö Mattias Borgh
Past members	Ida Bengtsson
Website	www.erebusodora.net/arcana

History

The original band consisted of founder Peter Bjärgö (then Peter Pettersson) and vocalist Ida Bengtsson. Since 2002, Arcana has changed line-up and now consists of Peter Bjärgö, Stefan Eriksson, Ann-Mari Thim, Ia Bjärgö and Mattias Borgh.

Often largely instrumental, the band describes its music as inspired by medieval music or the middle age's more romantic aspects. Their album Le Serpent Rouge had a more oriental feeling to it, with instruments like hammered dulcimer, finger cymbals, duduk and other oriental/Arabic instruments. Since 2006, Arcana is signed to Kalinkaland Records in Germany.^[4]

Peter also has a martial industrial side-project called Sophia and has also recorded one collaborative album with Gustaf Hildebrand.

Discography

Their first album Dark Age of Reason, released on Cold Meat Industry, has been compared to the early works by Dead Can Dance.^[5]

The third album ...The Last Embrace was published in 2000. It introduced the acoustic guitar and real percussion instruments to Arcana's repertoire.^[6]

The sixth album Le Serpent Rouge was released in 2004 on Erebus Odor Records. It features orientally inspired music and a stronger integration of acoustic instruments than previously.^[7]

2008 saw the release of "Raspail"^[8] on Kalinkaland Records. Arcana's earlier Neo-classical and medieval style returned with this album.^[9]

As Arcana

Year	Title	Format, Label & Notes
1996	The Hearts of Shadow Gods	2 × Vinyl, 7", Picture Disc, Limited Edition, Compilation / Cold Meat Industry.
1996	Dark Age of Reason	10 track CD / Cold Meat Industry.
1997	Lizabeth	3 track CD / Cold Meat Industry.
1997	Cantar de Procella	12 track CD / Cold Meat Industry.
1999	Isabel	3 track CD / Cold Meat Industry.
2000	...The Last Embrace	10 track CD / Cold Meat Industry.
2002	Body of Sin	2 track CD / Cold Meat Industry.
2002	Inner Pale Sun	8 track CD / Cold Meat Industry.
2004	The New Light (Compilation)	11 track CD / EREBUS.
2004	Le Serpent Rouge	9 track CD / Projekt / EREBUS.
2008	Raspail	10 track CD / Kalinkaland Records / Projekt
2010	The First Era 1996-2002 (Compilation)	4 CD / Cyclic Law / Box which includes all album and compilation tracks until Inner Pale Sun
2011	Un Passage Silencieux	2 track CD, Album, Limited Edition. So called "sister-release" of Le Serpent Rouge. Limited to 100 copies and only available to the owners of the Le Serpent Rouge Box. / EREBUS ODORA
2012	Emerald	3 track CD / Cyclic Law
2012	As Bright As A Thousand Suns	10 track CD / Cyclic Law

As Bjärgö/Hildebrand

Year	Title	Format, Label & Notes
2005	Out Of The Darkling Light, Into The Bright Shadow	CD / EREBUS.
2009	A Wave Of Bitterness	CD / Kalinkaland Records
2011	The Architecture Of Melancholy	CD / Cyclic Law
2017	Animus Retinentia	CD / Cyclic Law
2019	Structures and Downfall	CD / Cyclic Law

In other media

The remake of the Dead Can Dance song "Enigma of the Absolute" was used in the soundtrack for the popular Civilization 4 mod Fall from Heaven 2 as background music for the Runes Of Kilmorph religion.

The composition "Wings of Gabriel" was used in the soundtrack for the popular Medieval 2: Total War mod Broken Crescent as a main theme.