Borknagar

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Borknagar is a Norwegian band who I was really into some years ago, but that I drifted away from for no apparent reason. I recently started to get back into them and I'm reminded of why I liked them so much in the first place. 
If you're familiar, then vote for your favourite album here (my current one is The Olden Domain but I need to revisit the later ones a lot, as I only heard them when I was drifting away from the band). If not, then hopefully this topic will serve as a little crash course for the band. 

One thing to consider about Borknagar, is that their work can be split up into four distinct eras based on who was their vocalist at the time. 

The first era consists of the band's first two albums Borknagar (1996) and The Olden Domain (1997). During this time they had none other than Ulver's Garm (Kristoffer Rygg) fronting the band and they played black/viking metal. Other early members included Ivar Bjørnson (Enslaved), Infernus (Gorgoroth) and the late Grim on drums.

The second era covers the third and fourth albums, The Archaic Course (1998) and Quintessence (2000). The vocalist is ICS Vortex (Simen Hestnæs). The band start getting more progressive metal based and use more clean singing, but still have a very blackened sound. 

The third and longest era is the Vintersorg (Andreas Hedlund) era and covers the next four albums starting with Empiricism (2001), which for a long time was the only one I actually owned. This is the era I know the least about as I was always more interested in the Garm/Vortex albums. It includes the neofolk album Origin (2006), but otherwise continues the blackened progressive metal of the previous era. Keyboards Lars A. Nedland also does some lead vocals starting with Origin. 

The fourth and current era is actually more like era 3.2 as Vinterosrg is still here, but ICS Vortex came back so the band now have two vocalists. Ninth album Urd (2012) was the album that started to get me back into Borknagar a few years ago and was the first time since I stopped regularly listening to them that a new Borknagar release really grabbed me. I have't spent much time with last year's Winter Thrice yet, but I do intend to change that as I work my way through their catalogue again. Garm also appeared as a guest vocalist on this album. 

Edited by adg211288 - 03 Mar 2017 at 11:30am

Poll Question: Which is your favourite?
Poll Choice	Votes	Poll Statistics
Borknagar (1996)	1	[25.00%]
The Olden Domain (1997)	2	[50.00%]
The Archaic Course (1998)	0	[0.00%]
Quintessence (2000)	0	[0.00%]
Empiricism (2001)	0	[0.00%]
Epic (2004)	0	[0.00%]
Origin (2006)	0	[0.00%]
Universal (2010)	0	[0.00%]
Urd (2012)	0	[0.00%]
Winter Thrice (2016)	1	[25.00%]
You can not vote in this poll

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adg211288 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Forum Admin Group Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams Joined: 05 Nov 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 22310	Post Options Post Reply Quote adg211288 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Borknagar Posted: 03 Mar 2017 at 7:33am
	Borknagar is a Norwegian band who I was really into some years ago, but that I drifted away from for no apparent reason. I recently started to get back into them and I'm reminded of why I liked them so much in the first place. If you're familiar, then vote for your favourite album here (my current one is The Olden Domain but I need to revisit the later ones a lot, as I only heard them when I was drifting away from the band). If not, then hopefully this topic will serve as a little crash course for the band. One thing to consider about Borknagar, is that their work can be split up into four distinct eras based on who was their vocalist at the time. The first era consists of the band's first two albums Borknagar (1996) and The Olden Domain (1997). During this time they had none other than Ulver's Garm (Kristoffer Rygg) fronting the band and they played black/viking metal. Other early members included Ivar Bjørnson (Enslaved), Infernus (Gorgoroth) and the late Grim on drums. The second era covers the third and fourth albums, The Archaic Course (1998) and Quintessence (2000). The vocalist is ICS Vortex (Simen Hestnæs). The band start getting more progressive metal based and use more clean singing, but still have a very blackened sound. The third and longest era is the Vintersorg (Andreas Hedlund) era and covers the next four albums starting with Empiricism (2001), which for a long time was the only one I actually owned. This is the era I know the least about as I was always more interested in the Garm/Vortex albums. It includes the neofolk album Origin (2006), but otherwise continues the blackened progressive metal of the previous era. Keyboards Lars A. Nedland also does some lead vocals starting with Origin. The fourth and current era is actually more like era 3.2 as Vinterosrg is still here, but ICS Vortex came back so the band now have two vocalists. Ninth album Urd (2012) was the album that started to get me back into Borknagar a few years ago and was the first time since I stopped regularly listening to them that a new Borknagar release really grabbed me. I have't spent much time with last year's Winter Thrice yet, but I do intend to change that as I work my way through their catalogue again. Garm also appeared as a guest vocalist on this album. Edited by adg211288 - 03 Mar 2017 at 11:30am
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TheHeavyMetalCat Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List MMA Special Collaborator Black and Death Metal Teams Joined: 20 Nov 2015 Status: Offline Points: 1781	Post Options Post Reply Quote TheHeavyMetalCat Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 03 Mar 2017 at 12:38pm
	Good band. I prefer Garm's era and the first two albums overall due to them being the most black metal based ones. I went with the debut for my vote - the most pure black metal release they ever did. The Olden Domain is also a five for me though and they have several 4.5's afterwards including the new one Winter Thrice which I only picked up last month. Quintessence is a very good one too. Colossus is a very epic track. He was wasted in Dimmu Borgir.

Nightfly Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Forum Admin Group Death, D/S/D, T/S/G Teams Joined: 07 Apr 2010 Location: UK Status: Offline Points: 5087	Post Options Post Reply Quote Nightfly Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 03 Mar 2017 at 12:43pm
	I really like Borknagar and have a couple of their albums but there's big gaps in my knowledge of their back catalogue. This is a good excuse for me to check out some of the other albums before I vote.

666sharon666 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Forum Admin Group Black, HM/HR/Glam Teams Joined: 29 Dec 2010 Status: Offline Points: 4086	Post Options Post Reply Quote 666sharon666 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 03 Mar 2017 at 1:56pm
	The Olden Domain is my favourite, followed by Empiricism and Quintessence. Then Urd and then the rest. I know that most rate the debut quite high but its never been a favourite of mine. It does have my favourite artwork from them though. There's something about that picture that suits their music perfectly.

adg211288 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Forum Admin Group Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams Joined: 05 Nov 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 22310	Post Options Post Reply Quote adg211288 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 03 Mar 2017 at 3:48pm
	I went through the albums I didn't know so well this evening (up to Universal) and ended up liking them all more than I recalled. I agree about the debut's artwork, Nicole. I don't dislike their other artworks but they have a common style that the first one doesn't so it really stands out. It's a case of being simple yet very effective.
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Alex Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Forum Groupie Joined: 10 Feb 2017 Status: Offline Points: 93	Post Options Post Reply Quote Alex Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 Mar 2017 at 12:02pm
	I'm a bit atypical when it comes to Borknagar. I know that most tend to prefer their early albums but due to my being not much of a black metal fan I tend to prefer their later progressive metal works. I especially like the three most recent albums: Universal, Urd and Winter Thrice. I voted for the last one. I don't dislike the early ones either though. Olden Domain and Quintessence are both solid.