Album Review: Borknagar - Fall (2024, Century Media)

18th February 2024

As they approach their thirtieth anniversary, Norway’s Borknagar remain one of the most consistent bands in metal. Never less than engaging, five years on from the release of the True North - one of the best metal albums of 2019, Borknagar prepare to unleash their twelfth album, Fall. “I spend a lot of time mapping out the next album, mentally speaking,” says Øystein G. Brun. “I always try to find the nerve of things before I start writing. I’ve always had a very visual relationship with music. I see shapes and colours and shades and nuances. To start the new album cycle, I felt we had to fulfil our True North album obligations, which were put on hold for obvious reasons. Once we did that, we were able to start the writing process for Fall.”

Opening with Summits, the true meaning behind the album’s title already begins to take shape. Imposingly mountainous chords start the track before towering black metal riffs and vocals introduce the first lyrics. The towering rocks, untamed, rise stark and bold / Reflecting in my eyes, as forces clash / In this our own expanse where lives unfold / I plant my feet and feel the sleet’s coarse lash. As they do throughout the album, vivid imagery and rich metaphorical language describe life’s challenges and personal growth through a series of rugged, natural landscapes. Summits is lusciously structured to reflect the different aspects of emotion we all experience: sometimes powerful and determined, sometime delicate and vulnerable. Merging growling and clean vocals, reflective, quieter passages, black and progressive metal, Summits exhibits many of the elements that appear across the album. However, this does not mean that the track is confusing or unfocused; Borknagar are masters in the creation of atmospheres which wondrously illustrate the accompanying lyrics or the emotional palette they wish to manifest. Determination and a willingness to learn from the past are a key theme of Summits and as listeners, we climb with the band towards the majestic climax. Resounding through forests, these resolute calls / Horizons await, where splendour enthrals / With each step I take, on this stark, boundless quest / I embrace the hardships, I greet every test / For in the pursuit of these sights still unseen / I carry my history, bold and serene.

Nordic Anthem, which features desolate but beautifully scenic percussion, immediately takes the more extreme elements of the music down a step. Some fans might think that such a track might have benefited from being a little later in the track listing, as some of the intensity developed in Summits is lost. However, Nordic Anthem is testament to Borknagar’s determination to continually experiment and challenge not only the listener, but also themselves. Brun comments, “I’ve always been privileged. I needed to showcase Lars, Simen, Jostein, and Bjørn—all incredible musicians. When I wrote the songs for Fall, I had to weave around their talent. My main goal was to highlight, push, and challenge them. It was also to challenge myself. Of course, it’s always about moving the borderlines with Borknagar. That’s probably cliché, but it’s true. Music is like climbing a mountain. There’s always another higher peak.” An exquisitely constructed track, Nordic Anthem seductively weaves an ingeniously chilling mantra of self-resilience and identity, simultaneously captivating, cinematic and formidable. This is the north where spirits run free / From coast to mountain, that is our key / So, raise your head as our anthem rings / This is the north, so our people sing / We won’t bend our necks to any god!

Vocally, Afar oscillates between black metal growls and melodic, clean textures. Simen ‘ICS Vortex’ Hestnæs and Lars Nedland, as they do throughout Fall, combine in a strikingly alluring way, each contributing effectively, sometimes within the same space, without ever threatening to dominate the other. Beneath the celestial awning, I stand / Absorbed by the grandeur of nature's command. Moon, a glorious amalgamation of neo-folk, progressive and heavy metal, conveys a complex emotional landscape with the celestial body serving as a metaphor for the human desire for the quest of understanding ourselves and our own limitations. The moon tonight / Out of reach yet dead in sight / You don’t understand. Full of vocal hooks and illustrious guitar solos, Moon is another indication of the distinctly dextrous control Borknagar have of dynamic variation.

Fall was recorded at various studios across Europe; Norwegian producer Marius Strand captured Rønnow’s monstrous drums at Strand Studio in Oslo, while the remainder was tracked by Brun and his team at Crosound Studio in Hordaland. Mixed and mastered by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios (used in the past by Opeth, Ihsahn, Amon Amarth, and Sepultura) in Örebro, Sweden, the album sounds extraordinary, full of grandeur, scope and depth. “I try to ensure the guys have the best environment to record in,” Brun adds. “If I have to send Simen to the North Pole with a microphone, I’ll do it. Bjørn has a good working relationship with Marius. They work flawlessly together. I have a high-end studio now—the pre-production demos were recorded there. Recording most of Fall at my studio made a lot of sense. We’re all familiar with it, and since it’s my studio, I can focus on the important things instead of worrying about the recording budget.”

Stars Ablaze ushers in the second half of the album with an expansive, multi-part lament. We walk our paths, the maps in our blood / Fathers and sons, in the absence of god / The starlit sky, our undying guide / We march our stitches, our spirits abide. Defiant and unyielding, Borknagar shape their eloquent, yet poignant and melancholic tale through hypnotic and sharply honed instrumentation. Unraveling is a shorter track (by the standards of this album) that deals with the endless search for meaning in a chaotic universe by delving into the philosophical realm of existentialism versus absurdism. In realms of reason's perplexing guise / Where logic's chains shatter, new questions arise / I wander amidst our conundrums deep / Where boulders and mountains form reason’s keep. Although in some places the most musically direct song on the album, Unraveling also adds touches of avant-garde metal, particularly within some of the vocals.

Penultimate track, The Wild Lingers, summons, both musically and lyrically, arcadian and bucolic sentiments. The elegant opening guitar solo, the meticulous production and arrangements conjure the image of vast landscapes as we respectfully survey the natural world, something that is woefully lacking in modern society. The orchestra of life plays sacred tunes / Through rustling leaves and sunlight's golden runes / Undying howls of beasts, both great and small / Each adding voices to the forest's call / In the embrace of green, where time stands still / Immerse ourselves in nature’s sound we will. Fall, as a whole, builds on the spiritual elements of True North but also continues to develop and challenge Borknagar’s songwriting. The Wild Lingers is adeptly bewitching and sumptuous in scope; if Irish band Clannad played music of this nature, this is how it would sound.

Closing with the longest song on the album, the almost ten-minute Northward, Borknagar blend personal sentiments, broader spiritual themes and the essence of what it means to be drawn to and fulfilled by some of the most remote and rugged places on Earth. In the aurora's dance, an opus weaves / With notes only a northerner retrieves / So let the Arctic winds just howl and roar / These mountains are my home forevermore. Commanding but refined, Northward sees the band delicately balancing their use of power and hostility with their wider influences.

Fall is a natural progression from True North, using the tones and colours for which the band have become known but also expanding their lyrical approach to encapsulate the depth of experience and understanding of the true nature of life that comes as we become older. Thoughtfully combining their black metal heritage with pastoral, progressive and neo-folk influences, Borknagar have added to their string of consecutively strong albums. Those wanting a no holds barred black metal album will need to look elsewhere, but for fans and new listeners prepared to spend time as the band cast their spellbinding net across a range of genres, Fall delivers on every level.

Fall is released on 23rd February 2024 on Century Media.