Anyone want to tell me what happened to Borknagar?
- Thread starter Pitiless Wanderer
- Start date
mutantllama
Active Member
I can't. They ban people on their forum who talk 'badly' about the band. Happened to a guy who posts in the Nevermore board. Besides, I don't really care that much - I got over it pretty quick.
And I instructed you to leave my thread. Off you go.
And I instructed you to leave my thread. Off you go.
Alteredmindeath
Wasteland Survivor
Hubster
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Vitor
Unconventional [Listener]
i think they wanna sell more albuns than possible. Quintessence is the best one, and now they just wanna be more soft.
Einherjar86
Active Member
I wouldn't call it "soft;" just melodically appalling. I mean, the new record is full of key changes and strange chords that sound as though they're used merely for the sake of being strange. There's no artistic merit or deeper purpose. Look at "Colossus;" it's a melodically straight-forward, catchy, well-performed song. There's no need for gratuitous key changes or outrageous chord progressions. To me, it seems like Borknagar feels the need to impress its audience; but all it's doing is driving them away. Bands need to stop worrying about impressing people and just play the damn music.
Maybe they just grew old of making those simple but highly effective songs like Oceans Rise, The Dawn Of the End, Colossus and now My Domain, which kick ass. It's kinda sad, cause their epicness was their greatest strength.
I'm not sure if they wanna sell more albums doing complex music. I'm sure they know their peak of popularity and general praising was Quintessence, so if they really wanna sell albums, they should make music like Q or TAC.
I still like the new one but Borknagar is not the huge epic entity anymore.
I highly doubt they're concerned with selling more records. Again, I think they're just out of ideas. The last 3 records have been utter shit.
Vitor
Unconventional [Listener]
All bands that did it (except The Gathering) regretted and realized that what they were doing was what they really liked.
If they wanna play a different sound, so change the name of the band, make a project or whatever they want, but the fans must be preserved.
Why? it's supposed the bands make music for themselves, to develop/explore their own artistic tastes. A main problem is on the fans too, since they don't evolve at the same time with the band. It's something quite common to hear : bah, just their first(s) album (s) is/are great, the rest is shit. Obviously, the first works are the primal vision of the musicians, the root of their idea of the music they want to make, but as they get better musicians and explore other styles or just their lifes change, that affects directly to their art. That kind of new influences/changes are rarely understood by their fans as a whole and they divide on the usual old/new fans, unless the fans themselves pass thru some similar experiences and then they can understand what's going on.
Some bands 'return to the roots' just to sell albums/gigs, more than their real desire to make what they always liked.
About Borknagar, I blame the production, specially on Empiricism and Epic. The latter is really fast and agressive on the paper, but it sounds light and more like a 70's prog rock than a black metal release. I'm sure if those albums would be re-recorded with a rawer production, they could be considered at least decent. From their 4 first albums, just TAC features a clean/crisp production, but they had Vortex there doing mainly epic clean vocals and still had Grim on drums to make the album heavy/epic enough to be enjoyed highly.
IntoPhagist
FloriiiiiiiooooooOOO!
Fuck Universal is solid, get over it...Either it grows on you or you don't like it. Stop trying to solve the mystery why they are different now. I don't see much difference. It sounds like Borknagar to me.
Hubster
...
^ No, it is not solid. It is inconsistent and a repetition of the last three (metal)records.
(Origin imo was a fantastic work and the first musically/structurally successful metal interpretation on acoustic instruments. Cellos evoking heaviness? Fucking fantastic).
You can barely tell a difference in material between Empiricism, Epic and Universal: the riffs are the same, usage of keys the same, lyrical content is the same, drum fills (even with David Kinkade) are the same. Borknagar have become formulaic and utterly predictable.
Borknagar imo desperately need a change in direction. Either fuse the past and present, or do something different, or call it quits. They've become rapidly uninspiring since Empiricism. It's a shame too - their line-up is incredible, they're capable of truly amazing stuff, but they seem trapped within their own patterns.
Universal is not shit, but it is definitely a disappointment.
(Origin imo was a fantastic work and the first musically/structurally successful metal interpretation on acoustic instruments. Cellos evoking heaviness? Fucking fantastic).
You can barely tell a difference in material between Empiricism, Epic and Universal: the riffs are the same, usage of keys the same, lyrical content is the same, drum fills (even with David Kinkade) are the same. Borknagar have become formulaic and utterly predictable.
Borknagar imo desperately need a change in direction. Either fuse the past and present, or do something different, or call it quits. They've become rapidly uninspiring since Empiricism. It's a shame too - their line-up is incredible, they're capable of truly amazing stuff, but they seem trapped within their own patterns.
Universal is not shit, but it is definitely a disappointment.
Einherjar86
Active Member
I agree with Hubster, although I do find a lot to enjoy on Empiricism. Epic and Universal though (from what I've heard) are, as has been said, boring and predictable.
Empiricism is, to me, a very under rated album. Songs like The Genuine Pulse, Soul Sphere and Gods of My World kick all kinds of ass. If anything, it's this album that best represents a fusion of old and new Borknagar, IMO.
Zephyrus
Tyrants and Slaves
Hubster
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I can't bring myself to bash Vintersorg, I love what he does overall (that's not to say he's perfect though). Solens Rotter was a good return to form.
