Borknagar - Pagan Science
By: Darren Cowan
Forming in the mid-90’s—right around the time Spin Magazine introduced America to the heinous acts of Norway’s blackest bands—Borknagar never received the name recognition as fellow Norwegians Darkthrone, Satyricon and Dimmu Borgir. The group has stood behind the aforementioned groups for reasons such as lack of touring in America, a foreign name or possibly their style. Borknagar’s music draws influence from progressive bands, symphonic black metal and pagan/folk, but doesn’t subscribe fully to any of said styles.
For all the lack of recognition, though, Borknagar has definitely left their imprint on Norway’s illustrious scene. Three of Norway’s most prolific singers—Garm, I.C.S. Vortex and Vintersorg (Vintersorg is actually from Sweden - ed.) have all screeched and crooned on Borknagar albums. Vortex later became famous as the bassist and operatic singer for Dimmu Borgir. Vortex’s appearance on The Archaic Course and Garm’s on The Olden Domain—along with Garm’s performance on the Arcturus’s Le Masquerade Infernale—have stood the test of time as some of the greatest albums to ever come out of the Norse Lands.
Vortex made his final appearance with the band on 2000’s Quintessence, and then the group hired Vintersorg as its front man. Many of the group’s early fans bemoaned the Vintersorg era and since Vintersorg’s introduction on Empiricism to the present day, Borknagar has taken away much of its folksy aspects in favor of classical and progressive elements. Still, much of the pagan themes remain, the atmosphere has more layers and their vocalist possesses extraordinary multifarious singing styles (epic clean and savage screams).
Borknagar’s eighth studio album Universal signifies yet another phase in the band’s career. For the first time in nearly a decade, the group has a new drummer, American David Kinkade (Malevolent Creation, Council of the Fallen) to replace Asgeir Mickelson. The group also severed a 12-year relationship with its record label, Century Media, for the Norwegian upstart Indie Records. Songwriter and guitarist, Øystein G. Brun spoke with Blistering.com on these new developments, as well as seeing the return of a past member.
Blistering.com: Universal marks your first full-length release through Indie Records/The End. Why did you leave Century Media? How did you land on Indie Recordings?
Øystein G. Brun: When we released our previous album, Origin our deal with Century Media expired. They wanted us to sign for more albums, but we felt like we were going down a dead end with them. CM is by all means a good label, but at a certain point, we just felt bored of jumping down the usual slope. On the other hand, Indie records came up with an offer that looked way better in terms of contractual matters, as well as the whole project about raising a label on a Norwegian ground turned out very attractive. Looking through all the offers we got, the choice came quite easy.
Blistering.com: Another new aspect to Borknagar is your drummer David Kinkade. He replaced long-time skin basher Asgeir Mickelson. Why did Mickelson quit the group?
Brun: I believe that Asgeir felt a bit fed up with the whole thing, and the fact that he didn’t feel totally comfortable with the musical direction Borknagar is taking. There is no secret that Asgeir and I had quite different tastes in music, and for the last couple of years we both compromised too much for a healthy long run cooperation. We are ofcourse still good friends, so no drama related to the split.
Blistering.com: How did Kinkade hook up with the band? What does he bring to Borknagar?
Brun: When Asgeir announced his split with the band we got a whole lot of mail from drummers that wanted to join the band, amongst them David. At that point, I didn’t know David at all, but for some reason or another, we just stayed in contact for some months. We started to talk on the phone and figured out that we shared much the same attitude and philosophy regarding music. Things evolved and after a while, David just felt like the far best option around, as he is an extremely skilled and focused musician. So we flew him over to Norway and started to record the album. I would certainly argue that he delivered the goods in a great manner.
Blistering.com: Please explain the recording/writing process for Universal.
Brun: We usually have a firm strategy when it comes to writing and recording albums. I still write most of the music. First, I make some decent pre-productions in my home studio. When these are done, I send it over to the other guys and we start to process the songs as a whole band. We all have home studio facilities so what we basically do is work on the material on a individual terms, sending material back and forth until we have circled in the general approach we want. Obviously a huge part of the process is to reach some sort of connected mentality when it comes to the music, where to go, what to add and finally we have some quite packed pre-productions that we bring along to the studio. We are usually very well prepared when we finally hit the studio and being there is about executing what we have planned. Still, we always have an open mind for additions and changes. Sometimes we even remove something. So, I would say it is a very dynamic process where all the members are able to contribute with the musical potential.
Blistering.com: Why did you choose Universal as the album title? Does this title represent a theme throughout the album’s lyrics?
Brun: This time around, we really allowed our own inspiration to inspire us. We kind of had an eclectic view of our previous work in terms of writing new music. In terms of lyrics, we had a long process going to find the most suitable title for the album. I have always been very fond of northern mythology, the pre-Christian mentality and worldview. That has always influenced my lyrics a lot, even if it my ideas are sometimes a bit subtle. Vikings drinking mead, horned helmets and so forth is cool, but to me the mentality is the most important issue here—the profound respect of nature and so forth. One could say that I wanted to bring this “northern-mentality” into a more universal and cosmic context. Even though Vikings had their own wrapping, I would argue that their worldview had much in common with other ancient cultures all over the planet. The crucial common point here is the fact that they all shared the same respect for nature and played by nature’s rules. We don’t want to be any sort of “Greenpeace-band” but I honestly believe that the only way around the almost pitch black future we are facing right now is to change our mindset on a global scale. I doubt this will ever happen, but as long as people worship monotheistic “war gods,” and ruin the planet due to reasons of interest and so forth, we will lose this race very soon. You might say that we intend to talk the tongue of nature.
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