Borknagar
The Olden Domain

THE REVIEW

Let's take a leap back in time. Ten years ago, to be precise.

At that time, Borknagar were neither more nor less than just another band, but they were forcefully making their way into the Scandinavian and European extreme scene, thanks also, and above all, beyond any admiration one may or may not have for its various members, to the extraordinary originality that it poured (and still pours) into the albums that have presented its features in a changing measure, rather "out of line", without having to necessarily give up its extreme roots which placed them, at the beginning of their career, as a fairly successful union of "Viking" and feral "Black Metal" of the finest kind.

Time has then changed the stylistic direction of Borknagar, softening their tempos and expanding in epicness, which was never absent in all their discography, indeed forming the backbone, the supporting column of the entire musical production of the five.

"The Olden Domain" was the first real, true and evident step towards shores that few before Borknagar had dared to imagine: detach from Black Metal to rework its "mood" without distorting it and make it a participant and servant of the intelligence of a lyrical and epic component that did not fail to fascinate other bands, and other individuals, who later became famous in the same genre (Ensiferum above all).

The album moves on two essential tracks.

The first, indispensable, is the contribution of the imaginative guitarist, as well as the mastermind of the group Øystein G. Brun, who thanks to his culture, his magnificent technique, and his emotion, manages to chisel, as if he were a goldsmith, chord after chord, woven on ever-changing and never trivial harmonic fabrics, adding, if not enough of its own, an aura always sad and anguished, as well as dramatic and ancestral, that cannot help but evoke forebodings of an endless winter, of some element inhabiting the cosmos but too large to be described, and not insignificantly, only sketched summarily; imagined and brought to mind by the notes of songs like "The Winterway", "A Tale of Pagan Tongue" or "The Dawn of the End".

The second is instead the contribution of the singer Garm, whom Avantgarde enthusiasts will find in Arcturus of "La Masquerade Infernale", just to give an example, or in his creation Ulver.
On the extraordinary vocal performance that he pours into every groove of the album, there is no objection that holds: Garm is simply endowed with astounding vocal timbres that have made him a sort of semi-god in certain circles, and not without reason I would say.
It is understandable why, in his replacement, Borknagar could not find makeshift solutions that would constitute a worthy continuation but had to turn to other singers of the same caliber such as I. C. S. Vortex (today in Dimmu Borgir as bassist, but also in Arcturus, replacing Garm) or Vintersorg (another extreme pillar with a golden throat, active in Otyg, Vintersorg indeed, and Cronian); all people who have amazed, have managed to always instill new facets in the band's extraordinary work, but who, honestly, and I say this regretfully since they are artists I love more than anything, are not the same as Garm.

His pathos is inimitable, his "duets" between ferocious Screams and commendable "clear" clean, evocative, and masterful vocalizations are commonplace in this album, and this is excellently demonstrated in tracks like "Grimland Domain", "The Eye of Oden", "To Mount and Rove", which are more than evident examples of how far Borknagar have pushed themselves without too much presumption, into unknown territories, in the northern forests lashed by the cold and bathed by an icy sea that forms a crown and a limit; a limit that must always be scrutinized, and that, in the eyes of those who have been able to look "beyond" this boundary, echo in the notes of this album: in the moving "Om Hundredeaar er Alting Glemt" where a piano that seems to be suspended in the air takes the mind to travel on something decadent, ancient, morbid, observing its traits with the help of the memory of a people like the Scandinavians who have crossed very different and unknown empires and cultures, sometimes subjugating them, sometimes bartering something with them, sometimes undergoing their influence and blending with them.

Still, there would be pages and pages of thoughts to write about "The Olden Domain", but it is superfluous for me to continue, being able to only urge you, if you ever have the chance, to get hold of the album, to make it yours, to listen to it over and over again, to absorb its extraordinary energy, strange charm, and strength and endings, without having to necessarily lapse, as has been done many times, into easy Satanism and commercial and tawdry nonsense of many other Black Metal genre bands (with all due respect to these too, it goes without saying!).