Album Review: Borknagar – Fall (Century Media Records)

Norwegian metallers Borknagar are back with their brand-new album, ‘Fall’, out on February 23rd, 2024, via Century Media Records.

Has it really been so long since Borknagar blessed us with 2019’s True North? It speaks volumes about that album’s quality and Borknagar‘s ability to captivate with icy metal that their back catalogue is so strong. Fall is their twelfth studio album and shows that their only getting stronger from a creative standpoint.

There are many outstanding points to crow about with this new album, but perhaps the most significant is the balance. The balance of instruments, the balance of talents, the balance of epic soundscapes and heaviness, the balance of Borknagar history and forward movement. Fall has it all, and it is one of the most well put together releases we’ve had from this band. Showcasing a freshness to things, while also being undeniably Borknagar.

It says a lot about their confidence in this album that they would start it off with something as big as Summits. Laying out the level this album will reach with grandiose melodies, crushing heavy rhythms, and enlightening twists and turns to the formula. Although that shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise when you consider the fact that this opener is nearly nine-minutes long.

The thing is, it doesn’t feel it, and the comforting cold just continues to seep into the bones with the big folk-infused sound of Nordic Anthem, one of the better examples of Borknagar’s riveting ability to be highly melodic. This, and the following Afar showcase the incredible vocal interplay and Simen “ICS Vortex” Hestnæs is sounding as stunning as ever. Although this latter track is also a medley of guitar creativity, Øystein G. Brun and Jostein Thomassen continue to make magic, finding emotional depths many may not expect them to plumb.

Though, as previously stated, Borknagar deliver a masterclass in balancing heavier, more worrisome vibes and deeper melodies tinged with darkness and oozing coldness. Moon might very well be the most impressive example of this on the entire album.

There are plenty of notable melodic experimental ideas throughout the album, and the expansive giant that is Stars Ablaze proves that. Lars A. Nedland’s keyboards getting a bit ‘weird’ with it, while being extremely interesting none the less. This is a track with some of Borknagar’s most cinematic moments, and also a track with some of their most fiery explosive moments.

As things go on, there’s no diminishing value, in fact with the relationship the listener has with this record, that will likely deepen once the tumultuous sound of Unraveling and the dreamy darkness of The Wild Lingers is heard. Two more enigmatic efforts from a band who continue to push the limits of their imagination.

Yet, all of those words, and so many more, apply to the finale of Northward. The longest track on the album at nearly eleven minutes long, it delivers a bevy of peaks and valleys, of immensely heavy highs and melodramatic melody-laced lows. Elevating an already sprawling soundscape to a near unfathomable level. It’s a profound track, but features on an album with an extravagant amount of irresistible tracks, so it doesn’t feel out of place. It’s Borknagar at their most elevating and emphatic, and that statement alone, should be enough to make this album a must listen. Which it is.

Twelve albums in and still this creative? Borknagar truly are a special band.

Borknagar – Fall Track Listing:

1. Summits
2. Nordic Anthem
3. Afar
4. Moon
5. Stars Ablaze
6. Unraveling
7. The Wild Lingers
8. Northward

Links

Website | Facebook | Instagram | X