Borknagar
Urd

One of the most anticipated releases of this year in the realm of extreme metal and metal in general, given the names involved. We're talking about Borknagar, who return two years after the mediocre "Universal" with a stellar lineup, to say the least. The previous effort, in fact, had very little to offer, except for the return of ICS Vortex, featured as a guest on the track My Domain, the only truly qualitative episode of Universal. Vortex, a few months after the album's release, announced his return as a permanent member, thus making Borknagar an authentic star team of Scandinavian extreme metal, joining Andreas Hedlund (also known as Vintersorg), Lars Nedland (also known as the keyboardist and clean vocalist of the resurrected Solefald), Jens Ryland, and, of course, the mastermind Øystein Brun.

Mr. Hestnæs, besides taking control of the bass again, presents himself here as an additional singer, which explains the enormous expectation for the newcomer "Urd", which arrives with the very ambitious project of mixing two such different vocal lines as those of the imposing bassist and the Swedish prodigy. As if this weren't enough, in the new album, Nedland also indulges in some lead vocals, not just limiting himself to backing vocals as in the past.

It's certainly not difficult to imagine that precisely because of this, the influence of the aforementioned genius in the album's economy might be diminished. We will see in order how this pans out right after we immerse ourselves in the album: we thus descend into the roots of Yggdrasil to meet Urd, the Norn of fate, and question her about the fate of Borknagar.

Epochalypse and the "single" Roots open in grand style, two tracks that set the tone of the album, with incredible swings, constant changes of speed and voice, given that all three singers trade off in the lead role. Great wall of sound, great choreography, but there's an underlying sensation that the 6 gentlemen want to amaze more than convince, dazzle more than conquer.

Decidedly better is The Beauty Of Dead Cities, which takes us back to the times of Universal and Winter Millennium, a duet between Vortex and Lazar with an excellent chorus from the latter. Vintersorg takes the chair again with the following The Earthling, a slow and dark song, also endowed with excellent choruses and choruses driven by Mr. V this time. It continues with the instrumental interlude The Plains Of Memories, very well constructed, very well played, very captivating and suggestive albeit very manneristic.

Then comes a celebration of redundancy, Mount Rigency and the monumental The Winter Eclipse, eight minutes that seem to want to gather all of Borknagar's past from 1998 to today, where finally, albeit faintly, the Vintersorganic sound elements return to be heard, as well as choruses similar to those that marked the success of Jordpuls, the last effort of the Swedish band. It closes with In A Deeper World, which follows the same considerations as Plains Of Memories but is complemented by an excellent vocal performance by ICS Vortex.

In conclusion, "Urd" is an album of excellent quality level, presenting the band in significantly better shape compared to two years ago. The newborn from the Borknagar house consists of 9 extremely engrossing episodes, this must be said. Øystein's idea is to combine the evolved sound of Empiricism with the lightness and melodic power of The Archaic Course, trying to give the album, with arrangements and effects as pompous as ever, an increasingly epic and choral tone. In short, a clear improvement over Universal.

On the other hand, however, our boys take little risk, if nothing at all, so much so that, despite being equipped with much inferior productions, although much less calculated, albums like the already mentioned Empiricism and Epic had their peculiar, characteristic charm. Urd lacks that desire to experiment, it lacks the decisive contribution of Hedlund and Nedland, lacking therefore a The Inner Ocean Hypothesis and a The Black Canvas.

And seeing the latest works of Vintersorg and Solefald makes one want to bite one's hands and wonder if the old Brun, behind craftiness and undeniable talent, is not trying to hide a burgeoning lack of ideas. And one wonders if the fame resurgence due to Vortex's reintegration will end up consigning to fate a group that already gave its best ten years ago.

7.0