On disc: Borknagar

 
 Quintessence
 
- Claudia Ehrhardt -
 
 


 
 Empiricism
 
- Claudia Ehrhardt -
 
 


 
 Empiricism
 
- Volker Raabe -
 
 


 
 Universal
 
- Claudia Ehrhardt -
 
 


 
 Universal
 
- Mike Thompson -
 
 

Universal

(Indie Recordings - 2010)



 
 

 

Borknagar are a band with a hefty back catalogue of full length albums. Universal marks their eighth album to date. That being said, I have heard the name, but the only song I've ever heard before this was Soul Sphere from 2001's Empiricism album. This song was great and I always meant to check out more, but you know how these things go...

So, I come to Universal almost a Borknagar virgin having long since forgotten anything, but the name of Soul Sphere. Was it worth the wait? To be honest I would have to say not really.

The talent of the six gentleman is obvious to see. The keys, guitars and drums sound great and Vintersorg's vocals are varied and his growl superb. However, I just find the songs, as complex and atmospheric as they are, quite boring for long stretches of their duration. The parts where the band delve into more extreme black metal style music are very good and really enjoyable. However, there are far too many of the melodic parts with clean vocals. Clean vocals that, I have to add, generally just really annoyed me.

These melodic passages were, I suppose, the Norwegian sextet's attempt to be atmospheric, but rather than any sense of awe-inspiring atmosphere the band just left me with an almost overwhelming urge to skip to the next track.

The album is well produced and there are some good moments and great musicianship, but in all honesty, I was glad when the album finished. Maybe it will grow on me, but I don't think I'll be playing it any time soon to find out.
 
 










Mike Thompson


  
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Universal

(Indie Recordings - 2010)



 
 

 

Borknagar are a legend and with Universal they present their 8th album. If they changed? Yes, they did. I confess that it's been awhile since I listened to them... That was back in the days of Quintessence and Empiricism, and somehow I liked them more back then...

The album opens up slowly with acoustic guitar, but Havoc soon shows a different facet! First the others join in and after a break they storm off in blast attack. Then easy off and present a passage with clean vocals. It seems that Vintersorg and his mates try to combine their musical past with new musical adventures... And these adventures incl. different elements you usually won't find in black metal. At Reason they add some folk elements which usually work well with black-ish sounds, but again it's the passages where they use clean vocals which somehow won't fit in. These passages would work in a different surrounding, so to speak. The Hammond organ adds a different flavor, too. At For A Thousand Years To Come they add some keyboard elements which seems to be out of place here... At Abrasion Tide they can create some atmospheric parts, but still not a real highlight. At the closer My Domain they seems don't sound like Borknagar the way I knew them and if this is what they want to do, then it would have been wise to do it under a different moniker! Sure, there is nothing to complain when it comes to the technical skills and production.

To be honest it really surprises me to find some older works better then Universal. Personally I prefer clean vocals and sometimes it works well, but I'm sorry to say, to me it seems like they were trying too hard to be innovative and sticking to their trademarks at a time. It's like they didn't had the guts to change their style more drastically... So this album leaves me with mixed emotions, I think I see where they are heading to, but Universal tried to be too universal!
 
 










Claudia Ehrhardt


  
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Empiricism

(Century Media - 2001)



 
 

 

I was close to hit the stop button and put it away, but then I would have missed the last 5 tracks of Borknagar's new album Empiricism. That would have been a pity!

Hyperblast attacks show that The Genuine Pulse is nothing special, even is the refrain is nice... the next track is Gods Of My World which has mean growls and again a refrain which didn't really fit. Two more songs like that and an instrumental, but then a sur­prise! The next songs come with a Falconer-like sound structure, even if the vocals are much heavier like on The Stellar Dome. At least the second half of this album can convince me. That Borknagar are differ to other genre acts isn't new and that they proof again. Chaos with creative and very melodic sound collages are... Borknagar!
 
 










Volker Raabe
(translation: Claudia Ehrhardt)

  
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Empiricism

(Century Media - 2001)



 
 

 

The 5th release of the Norwegian act and again a new line-up, but this doesn't effect the popularity of Borknagar. The band founded as a solo project of Øystein G. Brun in the beginning, but soon became a band. Per­haps the changing line-up are part of the secret of Borknagar...

Øystein is the leader and his fellows are kinda presenting the changing influences. Empiricism is more heavy metal than black metal, even if their roots are still obvious and audible. With Vintersorg, singer of the same named band and also of Otyg, Øystein found a charismatic singer who fits into the typical vocals of both genres. A good example is The Black Canvas or Gods Of My World. It seems that Mutter & Motion shows the way of Borknagar who are one of the most interesting acts of this genre nowadays. Hopefully this line-up will offer a second output, but on the other hand every line-up change made them more interesting and outstanding. At a time where black metal ain’t that popular anymore, this band established themselves in the metal scene, breaking out of the limited black metal genre and should be heard. Listen!
 
 










Claudia Ehrhardt


  
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Quintessence

(Century Media - 2000)



 
 

 

With their 4th album the Norwegian quintet again is crossing the boarders of black metal. The new line-up offers 10 tracks which are not just black metal, the vocals of I.C.S. Vortex are not typical... and may attracks metal fans who are usually not in to black metal. Borknagar plays powerful songs and use keyboards to support the melodic guitars. A very melodic output for a band which started as a black metal project. Including pieces of celtic folk music is another way to push the limits of the black metal genre. Qintessence is more melodic as the predessesor The Archaic Course and they might loose some old fans, but they'll win new ones. If Dimmu Borgir isn't to comercial for you and if you liked the last Borknagar album, go and get this one.
 
 










Claudia Ehrhardt


  
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