I must admit, I wasn’t aware of just how long Borknagar had been going until I read the press release that went with this album preview. Tracing back to 1994 (!) and now onto a mammoth 12 full-length release, the band really have spanned many changes and is still here to tell the tale.
This in itself is massively impressive and having spent some time touring with Rotting Christ and Wolfheart in the U.S along with European tours alongside Moonspell and Insomnium as well as festival slots at Hellfest, Midgardsblot and Nummirock in 2022, the band began mapping out the new album before hiding away and figuring out the best way to showcase the talents of the entire band.
This approach pays dividends immediately as you press play as the opener ‘Summits’ kicks into life, with a Blackened Norwegian Metal brilliance, as the drums batter you faster than the raindrops in a storm hit the window – the guitars provide a tone and feeling and the vocal splits between that Blackened feeling and that of a clean more Symphonic sound.
Don’t get drawn into the trap that what you hear is what you get with each track however as the shortest offering is 4 minutes 33 secs, the longest clocking it at 9 minutes 54secs. So, be prepared for twists and turns as the pace changes and the sound goes with it. This is by means a warning, please don’t think it is a criticism, far from it. The way that the tracks take on their being and life is rather incredible and when you get immersed in the brilliance, it is remarkable.
‘Nordic Anthem’ transports you to traditional land and sound, almost chant-like as you imagine that all the instruments used could have been created in times gone by – before the intersperse of more modern instruments lifts it to a newer level.
The way that Borknagar manages to portray such vivid images through their music is the exact reason that they are still so prominent this many years after their inception. There are a few bands that try to create this, however very few that manage to do it. You don’t even need to sit in the dark and turn up the volume, just press play and you are whisked to the wonderful world of Fall.
Fall will be released Friday 23rd 2024 via Century Media.
Ed Ford
Borknagar – “Fall” (54:30):
Tracklist:
1. Summits (07:58)
2. Nordic Anthem (05:14)
3. Afar (06:54)
4. Moon (05:51)
5. Stars Ablaze (08:26)
6. Unraveling (04:33)
7. The Wild Lingers (05:34)
8. Northward (09:54)
Line-Up:
ICS Vortex – Bass, Vocals & Choirs
Lars A. Nedland – Keys, Vocals and Choirs
Øystein G. Brun – Guitars
Jostein Thomassen – Guitars
Bjørn Dugstad Rønnow – Drums and Percussion
Discography:
Borknagar – 1996
The Olden Domain – 1997
The Archaic Course – 1998
Quintessence – 2000
Empiricism – 2001
Epic – 2004
Origin – 2006
Universal – 2010
Urd – 2012
Winter Thrice – 2016
True North – 2019
Fall – 2024
Weblinks:
www.borknagar.com
www.facebook.com/
https://www.instagram.com/
http://twitter.com/borknagarHQ