<<I'm mainly disappointed that SHAM MIRRORS didn't seem to hold up (to my few listenings) to the fascinating descriptions of Arcturus that I've read. Is LA MASQUERADE INFERNAL different?>> Yes, and so is 'disguised masters', the 'remix' cd of that album. i think 'la masq...' is still my favorite of theirs. as for why his voice is 'controversial', listen to 'la masq...' and ulver's 'theme's william blake's the marrage of heaven and hell', then backtrack to ulver's 'nattens madrigal' (harsh black metal in the style of darkthrone), the first borknagar cd (abrasive, yet still majestic/wagnerian black metal), and also ulver's 'bergtatt' (folkish black metal w/ almost gregorian chant-like vocals) and 'kveldssanger' (like the folk parts of 'bergtatt' without the metal, very good, somber, despairing, etc.) ... following these early screaming-your-entrails out albums, the booming operatic style and then the smooth singing of the latest arcturus are a strange thing to hear. re: solefald, i like all of their albums. hopefully their first, 'the linear scaffold', will be reissued soon. they salvage what is good from the more 'vampyric'/keyboard-heavy 'black metal' style more tackily practiced by cradle of filth, et al. , and add their own bizarre songwriting twists and intelligent, sarcastic, definitely-not-normal for-metal lyrics. 'pills against the ageless ills' is standard in comparison, but w/ great songwriting ... the production could have been a little stronger though. one more thing -- the new meshuggah album is going to be called 'nothing' and will be out in a few months. supposedly it will be more straightforward than 'chaosphere'. (just to reemphasize, for people who have not heard these bands, meshuggah and arcturus/solefald sound completely, totally different and have almost nothing in common except for the blanket 'metal' tag). wy _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.