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"More melodic and progressive than its predecessors, "True North" is a new jewel to be put to the credit of Borknagar, master of a (black) metal as cold as it is evolving."
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4/5
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If its title and the visual that dresses it, which is very beautiful, do not breathe originality, at least they allow to set the scene of "True North", that of a black metal fed with the icy waters of majestic fjords. But Borknagar being (still) what he is, don't expect him to be a classic Viking metal and warrior. While they draw their inspiration from a whole Nordic geography and mythology, musically speaking, the band has cultivated since its beginnings almost twenty-five years ago now an audacity and a taste for complex structures, which links it to the most evolving branch of the Norwegian extreme scene, that of Solefald or Arcturus.
While he had been in charge of the black voices since "Empiricism" (2001), Vintersorg no longer took part in the crew of the drakkar. The loss could be heavy but, besides the fact that the guitarist and founder Øystein Garnes Brun remains the undeniable leader, ICS Vortex and Lars "Lazare" Nedland have no difficulty in making up for this departure, the former now taking over the most aggressive parts. Of course, "True North" owes them a lot, especially when they compete with each other in a clear and thrilling register, as witnessed by the "Wild Father's Heart" whose tenderness barely masks an underground melancholy and even more this "Voices" that Lazarus installs at the top of the Valhalla by showing this finesse mixed with power that only belongs to him.
The light vocals irrigate all along this eleventh album which will appear very (too?) melodic to some, sometimes flirting with progressive rock like "Up North" of a dazzling beauty with its keyboards escaped from the 70s and its vocal lines (still) of an almost magnetic force. Some blasts and dark eruptions appear well during 'Thunderous' or 'Mount Rapture' while 'Tidal' appears as a long and stormy epic, but they can neither harden nor darken a menu placed under the sign of a cold and whirling majesty where emotional flamboyance prevails over aggressiveness.
Carried away by this usual vocal rivalry and a goldsmith's writing, "True North" follows in the natural wake of his predecessors, whose style he nevertheless softens even more, but thanks to a handful of some of the most intense and stunning compositions he has ever written, Borknagar prints in the memory bewitching images that are not about to disappear. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. Thunderous
02. Up North
03. The Fire That Burns
04. Lights
05. Wild Father's Heart
06. Mount Rapture
07. Into The White
08. Tidal
09. Voices
LINEUP:
Bjørn Dugstad Rønnow: Batterie
ICS Vortex: Chant / Basse
Jostein Thomassen: Guitares
Lars Nedland : Chant / Claviers
Øystein G. Brun: Guitares
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(0) MIND(S) FROM OUR READERS
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Top of the page
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(0) COMMENT(S)
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READERS
5/5 (2 view(s))
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STAFF:
4.5/5 (2 view(s))
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IN RELATION WITH BORKNAGAR
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OTHER REVIEWS
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OTHER(S) REVIEWS ABOUT BORKNAGAR
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Urd (2012)
CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS /
PROGRESSIVE METAL
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