BORKNAGAR – Fall

RELEASE YEAR: 2024

BAND URL: https://borknagar.com/

For one of the three major Norwegian black metal institutions, next to Emperor and Enslaved, Borknagar have comparatively only briefly dealt pure genre, from their 1994 inception through the eponymous¹⁹⁹⁴ and, maybe even the now legendary The Olden Domain¹⁹⁹⁷, only to deviate into then unknown and uncharted territory with The Archaic Course¹⁹⁹⁸ and Quintessence²⁰⁰⁰, getting seriously progressive with Empiricism²⁰⁰¹ (my point of entry into their catalogue,) an album I once owned on CD and frequently visited in utter admiration. Then there was Epic²⁰⁰⁴ and Origin²⁰⁰⁶ getting even weirder for many fans who welcomed the return of “their” Borknagar on the subsequent Universal²⁰¹⁰, Urd²⁰¹², Winter Thrice²⁰¹⁶ and True North²⁰¹⁹. But a careful observer and listener of this fascinating and unique outfit may not see mistakes, mishaps or desperate experimentation, only steady progress. He or she who sees it that way will also welcome Borknagar’s 12th installment, Fall²⁰²⁴, released on February 23rd via Century Media Records, with open minds and hearts, and rightly so, for it is a fantastic work shy of perfection.

The band founder, Øystein Garnes Brun (guitars) saw Borknagar as an outlet for more melodic music that will challenge the boundaries of brutal black metal of his previous band, Molested. In the interview with the German webzine Metal-mirror.de he explains that the name “Borknagar” has no meaning and it cannot be translated but is a construct, as he wanted a name that just meant “the band” and nothing else, so that, If Borknagar were ever to play jazz or blues (not to imply that he would play it but only that he could in principle) thus achieving a complete control over his musical career. Indeed, how many bands push themselves into a corner they get stuck in just by their name! Borknagar, on the other hand, today comprised of Brun, Arcturus vocalist Simen “ICS Vortex” Hestnæs (1998-vocals, bass, 2010-clean, choirs, 2019-harsh vocals,) Lars Are “Lazare” Nedland (1999-keyboards, clean vocals, choirs,) Bjørn Dugstad Rønnow (2018-drums,) and Jostein Thomassen (2019-guitars,) can pretty much play anything including abandoning black metal altogether (which they choose not to do,) and understanding that this was the artistic vision from the beginning goes a long way toward understanding Fall²⁰²⁴, an album so progressive it may very well put off some traditional fans (although I would just call them fans of the first 2 albums.)

Before we dive into the music, it is imperative that we examine the equally fascinating and unique lyrical framework behind it. While not a concept album (or, at least, it didn’t strike me as one,) it does have a one prevailing theme: we are the sole creators of our destinies, even if we pre-suppose the Sophoclesian predeterminism (later adopted by Calvinists or even Dr. Sigmund Freud.) The lyrics appear to be atheistic, or, at least, agnostic, because, on one hand, “there comes a time when all gods must fall” so “we won’t bend their necks to any god” (Nordic Anthem) as “we walk our paths, the maps in our blood, fathers and sons, in the absence of god” (Stars Ablaze) but paradoxically “behold the answer of the true northern gods, magnetospheric turbulence to guide your heart” (Northward,) so maybe we won’t bend our necks to any false god? At the same time, there is a strong pantheism in beautiful and often breathtaking lyrical tapestry that even a slight colloquialism would marr, (to say nothing of profanity,) whereby we gaze at “ever-shifting skies, like an artist’s brush, a masterpiece of light with each celestial rush” and “at zenith, I watch as the Earth meets the sky, profoundest of unions, quintessence of <I>” (Afar) and then “the wisdom of the moon: You shine when you are shined upon” (Moon.) But we are neither blind nor naïve, as we acknowledge the elephant in the room of any religion or faith: Sisyphus’ boulder which, according to ancient Greek legend, he is condemned to push up the hill where it slips away all the way down so that he resumes the pointless effort with “absurdity, enigma crowned…a paradox, all reason’s drowned, a cosmic jest, a taunting spree…meaning’s demise, void of intellectuality…no grand design, and no purpose clear…just fleeting momеnts in a tumultuous sphere…confusion rattling existence’s cage…hostages in absurdity’s domain” (Unraveling) – why, these are thoughts any thinking person, believing or unbelieving struggles with and Borknagar’s view is refreshing in the genre that often succumbs to raw nihilism. In fact, they are far from it as they offer a solution: “own your futility, the only way to be free…embrace the chaos, release the pain” turning absurdism into “the poet’s creed”…recognizing something I have recently come to learn: “where reason fades…wills succeed…” so “oh, thinker’s spirit, never cease to inspire, let’s dance with chaos and never tire” (Unraveling,) the attitude which enables us to “thrive, to build another day…fear no strife…seek out [our] solace…shape [our own] lives” with “austere persistence” as we “conquer the challenges, steep after steep…with each step [we] take, on this stark, boundless quest and embrace the hardships…greet every test” (Summits.) After all, “here we are under the stellar dome of stars” and if we “try to take command, there’s nothing you can do, too big or small to change the fact that here and now defines the truth” so “humble up” as you “take the reins and let go” for “left is right today, up is down, it’s all the same” so “embracing the untamed, the cold, the pure” we realize “the only place to be” is “to live until released…until reality comes knocking at the door, then I see who I am, who you are, in this moment” (Northward.)

Having seen where the Borknagar quartet comes from philosophically, we are now more prepared to fully appreciate the perfection of the opening “Summits”, one of the best openings in the genre strongly evocative of Emperor (howbeit with a melody strongly recalling 80s Savage’s “Only You” which I’m sure is just a hilarious coincidence,) the kind of track where the multitude of layers and ideas beg for repeated exposure to the point where you never fail to discover something different previously apparently missed, the kind of song that should be used by up and coming black metal bands as examples of compelling and fresh songwriting unbound by any genre loyalty while undeniably black metal, Borknagar clearly choosing to put their best foot forward right from the start, my favorite track for all the above reasons. My second favorite is actually not much of a black metal track, in fact, rather death doomish is the Katatoniac (down to Jonas Renkseian vocals) “The Wild Lingers” even with the somewhat bluessy guitar and feel to it, it has that rare quality in metal: equally striking and addictive verses and the chorus, a chorus as hugely epic as one can possibly get without making it a parody of itself. And it’s not like Brun & Co. treat black metal as if it were an unwanted stepmother (a simile possibly unfamiliar to someone not born and raised in Poland like me) because the Amorphisian “Stars Ablaze” is another example of blastbeaten excellence, blastbeaten here, more Opethic there, with probably the most brutal and fastest sequences on the album. Similar in this regard is the closing “Northward” (where Borgnagar vocalist(s) reach incredible high(t)s) with its arrangement reminiscent of the fellow countrymen In Vain (whose album Solemn²⁰²⁴ I have recently reviewed,) although, generally, the first half, although qualitatively equal to the 2nd, seems less brutal and extreme in comparison. Overall, there’s a sense that nothing on this album was haphazzardly or even serendipitously put together (as the latter happens more often than we might think,) but that everything has its proper place and timing, however, some choices, to which we will now turn, puzzle me.

Those choices are subtle, to be sure, so they can’t influence the final score that much but they are significantly noticeable to make a difference in the way I enjoy this piece of musical art. Probably the thing that made me go hmm the most (to borrow from C&C Music Factory) was the choice to put the comparatively midly relaxing march of “Nordic Anthem” as the second track, resulting in the killing off of the painstakingly built up momentum of “Summit”. While I understand its importance, I question why it couldn’t be 4th or 5th to separate the 4 track halves. The effect is not relieved but even deepened on the, otherwise fantastic, 3rd track, “Afar”, which has an interesting now blackened death now deathened black sequences back to back but seems to be rebuilding the lost momentum a bit too slowly, so whenever the, equally fantastic, Dark Tranquilityian “Moon” comes in, the momentum is already lost, as it feels like it should have been more aggressive at this point, leaving me with a feeling that, overall, Fall²⁰²⁴ seems better enjoyed track by track than an album as a whole, whereby I conclude, in agreement with Angry Metal Guy, that In Vain’s Solemn²⁰²⁴ had a better balance.