{"id":28301,"date":"2024-02-06T14:26:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T14:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/?p=28301"},"modified":"2024-02-06T14:36:01","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T14:36:01","slug":"review-borknagar-fall-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/en\/review-borknagar-fall-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Borknagar: Fall (2024, Century Media Records)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Talking about a new Borknagar<\/a> <\/strong>album is without a doubt talking about one of the events of the year. The project founded in Bergen in 1994 by guitarist \u00d8ystein G. Brun<\/strong> as a parallel project of his then band Molested <\/strong>would serve as a playground to expand and explore new musical territories, testing all his qualities as a guitarist without losing an ounce of originality which would result in one of the greatest and most interesting debut albums in history, the self-titled Borknagar <\/em><\/strong>(1996, Malicious Records).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the arrival of the vocalist and also bassist ICS Vortex<\/strong> (Arcturus, Lamented Souls) a new path would open in the history of Borknagar<\/strong> that to date seems unpredictable and at the same time exciting since each album of the band pushes the established limits even further as they did outstandingly with their previous studio albums Winter Thrice<\/em><\/strong> (2016, Century Media Records) and more recently with True North<\/em><\/strong> (2019, Century Media Records), where the band embraces certain new sounds without any fear, delivering two albums that should be mandatory for any music lover in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After presenting their guitaristist Jostein Thomassen<\/strong> (Fracture, Viper Solfa) in 2019, having signed drummer Bj\u00f8rn Dugstad R\u00f8nnow<\/strong> (Maahlas, Profane Burial) the previous year together with vocalist Lars A. Nedland<\/strong> and the aforementioned \u00d8ystein G. Brun<\/strong> and ICS Vortex<\/strong> give life to the current Borknagar<\/strong> formation, a solid project formed by veteran members of the Nordic scene who have been in all types of bands and who have also played many different genres, which leads us to a new chapter that begins with the birth of Fall <\/em><\/strong>(2024, Century Media Records).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The album is presented to us with the powerful and fast Summits<\/em><\/strong>, the first preview that the band published a few months ago and which serves as a perfect example of what we can find throughout the album. The melodic first bars of Summits <\/em><\/strong>welcome us to the somber environment in which Borknagar<\/strong> moves throughout the album’s 55 minutes just before the raw vocals of ICS Vortex<\/strong> burst in violently, bringing back the Borknagar<\/strong> from his early years. The powerful and guttural voice of ICS Vortex<\/strong> intertwines with that of keyboardist Lars A. Nedland<\/strong> in a very natural way while the drums of Bj\u00f8rn Dugstad R\u00f8nnow <\/strong>and the guitars of \u00d8ystein G. Brun<\/strong> and Jostein Thomassen<\/strong> move between the most primal black metal and the melodic metal that Borknagar<\/strong> has built over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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