Borknagar
Quintessence

THE REVIEW

Strange creature that of Borknagar, one of the most original and long-lived formations within the most extreme and dark music scene, for various reasons, the first of all is to evolve in sound, trying to offer something new with each album but not only that, also for the choice to extensively use clean vocals, sometimes sacrificing the scream.

Another point of distinction is certainly the technical level of various songs, always high (and rightly so, given the musicians involved in the band) which gives the various compositions greater class and elegance, as opposed to some (some, not all) groups that prefer to be more essential to appear more aggressive; and yet not judging Borknagar as black metal would be a mistake, but what exactly do Borknagar of the post-Garm era have of black?? Well, the answer can be found in an album like "Quintessence", which represents a sort of return to more intense and aggressive sounds, with a greater use of scream (all by a certain Ics Vortex, to call absolutely fantastic would even be an understatement), but also a return to more fierce and frenetic rhythms, with numerous moments of double bass drums played at frantic speeds and still incredibly fast guitar riffs, but always precise in their sharp advance (an exemplary song of this can be "Genesis Torn" rather than "Ruins Of The Future").

Yet this record also presents moments so distant from black metal that it's hard to believe you're listening to a band playing the most violent musical genre of all: these moments can be found in tracks such as "Colossus" (one of the best episodes, in which Vortex, among other things, performs absolutely perfect work, opting for an entirely clean singing), but also the instrumental "Inner Landscape".

Otherwise, as mentioned, the album represents a sort of "step back", not to be understood in a negative way, but rather as a return to the symphonic black metal almost of Dimmu Borgir derivation (oh my, what a difficult word), although all reworked, of course, in a personal manner.

Little advice: the album cannot be recommended to everyone, because it has somewhat particular sounds, even if noticeably simplified compared to its predecessors, therefore I feel I can recommend it to all those who loved in some ways the pre-"Death Cult Armageddon" Dimmu Borgir, but also to those who love music contaminated (here as already mentioned in a more marginal manner) by different musical styles.

Tracklist:

1) Rivalry Of Phantoms

2) The Presence Of Ominous

3) The Ruins Of Future

4) Colossus

5) Inner Landscape

6) Invincible

7) Icon Dreams

8) Genesis Torn

9) Embers

10) Revolt

Band:

Ics Vortex - Clean vocals, choirs, grim vocals

Oystein G. Brun - electric, acoustic guitars

Lars A. Nedland - Synthesizers, Hammond organ, piano, backing vocals

Asgeir Mickelson - Drums