Borknagar - Origin

Ever since mainman Oystein G. Brun (guitars) hooked up with Vintersorg (Vintersorg, Fission) for 2001's Emipricism, the two have become inspired and compatible. Borknagar started as a folk influenced melodic black metal band when they released three albums in three years, starting with their self titled debut in 1996, followed by The Olden Domain and The Archaic Curse. The next trio of records; 2000's Quintessence, 2001's Empiricism and 2004's Epic, saw Borknagar become more of a full sounding, progressive black metal band.

Oystein has worked with some of the most talented vocalists in extreme metal; Garm (Ulver, ex-Arcturus) and Simen Hstnaes (Dimmu Borgir, Arcturus), and lately he's working with Vintersorg- including projects like Cronian. Since they had most recently completed a melodic, progressive rock album, I thought the new Borknagar would be a meaner, more aggressive album, but it's the complete opposite. Origin is an acoustic album with woodwinds (Steinar Ofsdal), violin (Sareeta) and cello (Thomas Nilsson) decorating the soundscape. Long time contributers; keyboardist Lars A. Nedland (Solefald, Age Of Silence), bassist Tyr (Emperor, Satyricon) and drummer Asgeir Mickelson (Spiral Architect, Testament) contribute to Origin as well.

Moods here range from sad (the classical "White") to seventies psychedelia ("Human Nature"), and I can't help but hope these two get this acoustic folk thing out of their systems so we can see a return of the aggressive progressive on the next Borknagar album.