Magic beetles? Strange unearthly cities? World without end? Pah! Let's shake things up here with some progressive metal!
Album title: True North
Artist: Borknagar
Nationality: Norwegian
Sub-genre: Progressive Metal/Tech Metal
This is a band I did not expect to get into. Borknagar began in 1999 as a Black Metal band. Now, I've found out through my explorations of the genre of heavy metal over the last maybe five years that this is not a bad thing: there are some excellent Black Metal bands out there. But it's not exactly a genre that tends to chime very well with progheads, though some may very well enjoy it. Your average fan of prog, if he or she is into metal at all, is more likely to be going down the symphonic/gothic and obviously progressive lane, avoiding the dark and creepy road that twists and turns through spectral forests and past crumbling, abandoned houses and leads to the morbid churches of Black Metal.
But.
I loved this album.
It took a little time – I think it was the third track that really punched me in the gut – but once I was in, man was I in. So much so that I got all their albums, even though many of their earlier ones are going to be pure Black metal. There's a sense of Pagan/Viking metal in their music too, and the progressive angle is definitely there. With a total of, to date, eleven albums, if you end up liking this there has to be at least another, what, five that you'll probably dig? But even if not, this album on its own is certainly worth listening to.
The appropriately-named “Thunderous” gets things going, with a rumble of thunder before the guitars go right for your throat, the drums pounding their way in and the vocals blast out, kind of all at once, like someone jumping out from an alley at night and taking you by surprise. You can very much hear the Black Metal origins of the band in this song, but it's very easy too to hear why they qualify as progressive metal, if not progressive rock. Vocalist Lars Nedland, who also handles keys, is joined by “darker/unclean” vocals from bassist Simen “Vortex” Hestnæs, and the contrast really works. Like some bands such as Epica and Within Temptation, Borknagar use the unclean vocals sparingly, so that they're both more effective when they come in, and don't ruin the songs for you if you're not into that sort of thing. Nedland reminds me very much of Frank Bornemann from Eloy, the guitar playing of Jostein Thomassen is backed by guitar from founder Øystein G. Brun and the licks really drive the song along.
It's a great introduction to the band, and things only get better with “Up North”, which, far from being a paean to Newcastle, is a bouncing, rollicking ride that is in fact the track that decided me on this album, the second not the third. Once I heard this I knew I was going to love the album. It just takes you and doesn't let go. The hook in it is irrepressible, and it literally bounces. It's the guitars and the percussion that do it of course, but the keys get their shot in too. It's a shorter song, with less of the unclean vocals, other than a roar at one point, and the energy in it just has to be heard to be believed. Even if all the rest was crap – it isn't, though I don't think they get to this level again – I'd consider this album having been worth listening to.
Very powerful singing from Nedland, almost operatic at times, things slow down around the fourth minute before building up again to the big finish, with some great work on the organ stabbing away there, not quite in the background, but the guitars never really let up. It's the turn of piano then to lead in “The Fire That Burns”, though that does not last long. This time it's Hestnæs who takes in the lead vocal before Nedland takes over, the guitars growling and hammering as the best in Black Metal can and do. Some really great vocal harmonies too (not sure who do those – Nedland is credited with “clean and backing vocals”, but can he back his own? Well I guess if they're multi-tracked, yes) and some quite introspective guitar as the song slows down in the midpoint.
“Lights” has a sort of Viking metal feel to it, quite dramatic with also a shot of AOR in there. Hestnæs really lets himself go here – not a clue what he's singing but it's powerful and effective, the more so when balanced against the pretty low-key vocal from Nedland. Without the unclean vocals this could almost have commercial airplay potential, like a heavier REM maybe. Another great hook in the chorus, with a lovely little introspective guitar passage to open “Wild Father's Heart”, both guitarists working together wonderfully to craft what could very well be a ballad. Some kind of synthesised orchestral strings provides a beautiful backdrop to the song, and hopefully there will be no unclean vocals as I just don't see how they would fit in here. Again, I could hear this on the radio, though the DJ might have some trouble with the band name - “that's Bork – Bjork? Borknig – I can't say that on the air! What? Oh. Nagar. Bork-Nagger. Bark Nagger? Sod it: some band from Norway.”
Very familiar guitar riff there in the bridge, but I can't place it right now. Oh right, I have it now: Bach's “Toccata and Fugue”, or at least SKY's treatment of it, which they just called “Toccata”. That was driving me mad. Either whistling or recorded wolf sounds near the end, and yeah, it's definitely a ballad, and yeah, thankfully they decided to leave out the unclean vocals. “Mount Rapture” marches along grandly, the unclean vocal coming back in as the tempo picks up a little then midway it starts to romp along nicely, some pretty sweet guitar solos taking it, then “Into the White” has an almost power metal feel to it, a lot of powerful organ (yes, yes, tee hee hoddle ha, how mature) driving it along though there's a guitar motif there that absolutely brings Twelfth Night to mind. Also a vocal that is very Porcupine Tree near the end.
“Tidal” is by far the longest track, clocking in at just over nine and a half minutes, sort of an atmospheric opening on guitar, touch of Iron Maiden here, nearly a minute and a half before the vocal comes in, then it rocks along like a good thing, though I will say to be fair that for a song of this length it does struggle somewhat to retain my attention. The album ends really strongly though on “Voices”, with a very Viking-like chant which slowly builds and builds to a thumping anthem , something you could imagine the Norsemen roaring as they cross the North Sea in search of plunder and glory. Put yer backs into it, lads!
Track Listing
Thunderous
Up North
The Fire That Burns
Lights
Wild Father's Heart
Mount Rapture
Into the White
Tidal
Voices
I know a little of Black Metal, but not enough that I could say I've never seen a Black Metal band metamorphose so completely into something so different, and yet retaining the core of what they must have been so successfully. These guys, you can tell they were once growling and screaming about sacrifices to Stan, sorry Satan, but have now progressed to much more melodic and intricate compositions, and have fully embraced the progressive metal ethos, while tipping their hat respectfully to their past.
A Truer North you could search for and never find.