Angry Metal Guy

Borknagar // Universal
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — Very good, feels unfocused at times and its definitely a grower..
Label: Indie Recordings
Websites: myspace.com/borknagar
Release Dates: EU: 22.02.2010 | US. 03.02.2010

Borknagar is a class act and has been for a long time. Reaching all the way back to their first, self-titled release, this band has separated itself from the herd by being just plain more interesting and unique. Eventually they just separated themselves from the modern black metal scene altogether, heading towards more progressive pastures. Universal continues a trend away from the raw and simple towards the highly complex, dynamic and progressive—but the question is whether or not the band’s fans and general public will want to follow the band in this direction. Well, and whether or not where the band is leading is somewhere worth going.

Make no mistake about it Borknagar is a seriously talented and fantastic band. Even with the departure of longtime drummer Asgeir Mickelson, the band didn’t miss a beat (oh, hahahaha, I’m so funny) when they picked up American drummer David Kinkade who performs admirably while filling some of metal’s biggest drumming shoes. Vintersorg sounds fantastic as well, though he’s mixed quite far back on this record, more so than on previous albums. On a close listen, Universal is a record of incredible layers. All of the instruments are painting complex, elaborate, detailed and beautiful portraits which come together sometimes to create a grand tapestry of sound.

Unfortunately, all this epicness and detailed playing also leads to what I see as the biggest problem from which this record suffers: a lack of focus. While every song on the record has shining moments of beauty and clarity, Universal seems messy and hard to follow at times. Intros to tracks can feel like total non sequiturs when the verse actually starts, (see: “For A Thousand Years to Come”) or sometimes the instruments seemingly clash with each other instead of working together to create beautiful chords and harmonies. Particularly in my normal speakers, I found myself just wandering off mentally when this record started overload my ears with information that seemingly clashed. However, a deeper listen with earphones helped me see through this sort of foggy mix (metaphorically speaking) and helped me come to a better understanding of these tracks.

And let me say: there are some really strong tracks on this album. The opener, “Havoc” is sort of your standard Borknagar opener, but it has done its job and stuck in my head. “My Domain” which features a guest appearance from Simen Hestnæs is another track that stands out for its epic build, particularly to the end of the song and stands as a reminder of what a fantastic vocalist Simen really is (and what Dimmu Borgir lost). “Abrasian Tide” is probably the most reminiscent of Quintessence and Empiricism on the whole record, and it’s just a solid track from start to finish. But my personal favorite track on the album is probably “Fleshflower” which, while quite short by metal standards, features a fantastic neo-classical kind of melody and some really convincing vocal performances. All of these awesome tracks point me to the same conclusion, when the band stays focused, they are able to produce epic, fascinating and powerful tracks. The big problem is when they let their progressive urges get ahead of themselves and the tracks start to wander.

Of course, the above tracks are not the only ones on the album I like. Every song on here has stand out moments, but I still do feel like I just get lost at some points and really, this is the first album by Borknagar where I’m able to say that. I admittedly had some issues with Epic at times, but even that one I felt like had a lot more good than bad and I can honestly say that I never had to work at liking that record. Universal, on the other hand, is a record that I have put a ton of effort into dissecting and trying to enjoy because of the high regard I hold this band in. While in the end I still think that this is a pretty good record, it certainly didn’t manage to live up to my expectations and had I not been forced to write a cogent review of it, I don’t know whether or not I would have given it more than just a couple listens.

Wow, more news today.  And, frankly, I think I’m probably the first to actually update this stuff.  So I was on the Vintersorg forum today when I came across an update that was written by him.  It basically sounds like things are pretty much in gear for him recording an album over the rest of this summer and into the fall.  Maybe we’ll have something from him in Q1 of next year?  I hope so!

Some news: I’ve now written 5-6 new Vintersorg tracks that sound really cool with a lot of folk touch but somehow it also has a touch of CG atmosphere. Just going to start to record some stuff during this summer.

A new Waterclime album is now completed, at the moment I’m noe shure who will release it. It’s a leap up in song quality and also productionwise compared to the earlier two albums.

Fission: not much happens at this time…we’re just filling up the right a mount of inspiration to start working on some stuff.

Borknagar: Concentrating on Wacken and looking forward the realese the new album “Universal“.

Cronian: Not much is actually going on at the time…we have like two-three new tracks going.

Gravisphere: Working on the recording of an album. So far keyboards are kind of completed..but you never know as it’s zillions of ‘em.

just found about ten really atmopheric track in my recording computer the other day…don’t know if I ever will do anything with it…but some ideas were special.

In other news, I’m actually awaiting an interview back from Mr. V and Stenlund from Gravisphere, so that should be cool when I get it.

Some may have read recently the post that made it on Blabbermouth, but was sent to anyone who was on Indie Recordings’ list about the restructuring and the fact that Borknagar and In Vain are going to have their records pushed back until 2010.  Of course, this is a bit of a shame as I was really looking forward to the new Borknagar record.  However, what I thought was definitely the coolest thing was getting to see the release list for 2010, honestly.  This is seriously fucking awesome.  Next year is going to kick ass for those of us who dig a lot of the Norwegian bands and the bands on Indie’s roster.  Here’s the list that was included: