It’s not really important to me what a band used to sound like, where they started or the genre that they were classed as – it‘s more about where they are now and just interesting (though not essential) how they got there. Time moves on, bands progress (well, some do…) and if you choose to take that journey with them it can be rewarding just as often as it can be disappointing. I’ve never been disappointed by a Borknagar release – there’s no musical room for it. If you really listen there is always something great about every release they‘ve done, to whatever degree.
I first encountered them all those years ago on “The Olden Domain”. Even then on that 1997 second album they were starting to shrug off a lot of the Black Metal leanings of their debut, crafting their own sound and heading into more Viking/Pagan Metal territory. Since then, over the years that followed main-man and founder Oystein G. Brun was joined by Jens Ryland, Garm departed, in came Vortex, Lazare joined the fold on keyboards and gradually the winding path of the band’s musical endeavours expanded even further. The albums and years continued, Vortex out, Vintersorg in and one of my favourite albums of theirs was born – “Empiricism”. The band certainly seemed to head in to a more progressive (yet still with extreme tendencies) direction from then on. Ryland departed and returned, then Vortex returned alongside Vintersorg, first on one stunning song on “Universal” then full-time on “Urd”. This seemed to coincide with pushing the band into an even more varied musical territory, further mixing extreme metal with melody and drama in their own truly unique way. That album was almost 4 years ago, and now in 2016 they bring us “Winter Thrice”, quite possibly and probably the band at their very best!
So when a band’s journey is as comprehensive and genuine as Borknagar’s, it’s great to hear elements of that journey throughout their most recent offering, but those elements are enveloped here faithfully in the sound they have created since. It’s an art that few have mastered, but especially on “Winter Thrice” Borknagar have blending everything they are, and plenty of what they were, perfectly and wrapped it all up in an absolute masterpiece. There are occasional parts of this album that hark straight back to “Olden Domain” and it’s equally excellent follow-up “The Archaic Course”. Also “Empricism” right through to “Urd” are in evidence too, but somehow the band have just shifted up yet another gear since that last album. As we have come to expect, the drumming is phenomenal, the bass intricate, the keys sublime, and the guitars as varied, heavy and diverse as you could wish for. There’s blast-beat fuelled adrenaline effortlessly delivered alongside melancholic acoustics. There are also some amazing musical melodies on here as well as fabulous vocal melodies too by Vortex, Lazare and Vintersorg, and yet the aggression and power is always there as well, vying for attention (‘Erodent’ and ‘Panorama’ are classic examples but each track has this to varying degrees).
With Vintersorg, Vortex (fresh and full of confidence from his excellent performance on the last Arcturus opus) and Lazare (people will know him from Solefald of course) all lending their vocals to proceedings it keeps things in that department even more unexpected – never more so than on the epic final track ‘Dominant Winds’. Every Borknagar musical style is blended perfectly behind almost a vocalist free-for-all over that stunning musicianship. The track also welcomes back original vocalist Garm for a few lines too! All four voices and styles work so well together, so it’s an extra treat that this wonderful invitation is also extended to all four being on the quite brilliant title track. The music bend and twists, surges and recedes giving the vocalists the licence to do what they do best. Lazare kicks things off perfectly, Vortex is equal to it, there’s some suitably aggressive grim vocals from Vintersorg in there, but as excellent as the other three are, Garm’s contribution really does stand out on this track. Maybe it’s the combination of all the vocalists together, maybe it’s the music it’s based around, or maybe it’s that Garm sings the majority of the track, but something makes this song just that tiny bit more special. There’s a hint of Ulver of course, with vocal lines also reminiscent of Garm’s time in Arcturus, but then there‘s something else in his vocal too…nope, there’s no getting away from it…It’s Tears For Fears. That’s who it reminds me of, and it really shouldn’t work, but this is Borknagar and it utterly does! The tendency is to give each track this analysis, packed with moments of splendour that they all are, but I think this review and I have gone on quite long enough so I’ll leave it for you to discover all those for yourself.
What a great album. A group of extremely talented musicians brought together for one moment in time, a special event, a real occurrence. That’s what a Borknagar album should be and that’s what this is. Fantastic.
(9/10 Andy Barker)
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