I think it's really hard to mix properly all elements involved on Borknagar. Since Empiricism the band developed a very complex style and songwriting and their sound changed a lot (they started with Toproom studio on that point too). Sometimes I think about their first albums where the sound quality was not the best, but it worked, specially on the atmosphere. I dunno if I'm too old or what, but the uberpolished sound developed these last years - this last decade in fact - is not of my liking (I talk about the entire metal community). EX: Quintessence is usually criticized by the production, but seems to be that most people thinks it's one of the Borknagar's best. When I hear Epic, I try to imagine how brutal it could sound if it had the same prod as S/T or Q.
I would love a new Borknagar recording done at other more 'extreme' studios again like Grieghallen or The Abyss, emphatizing more the 'metal' sound and trying to sound more organic/less polished.
The production on Quintessence is only a little bit worse than it could be. As far as I'm concerned that record is pretty well produced. I mean, production has come a long way in this modern era, right? It's so easy to produce with ProTools that guys recording in their basements are producing studio quality material. The issue is that there are other trends going on in metal that are ruining the production on so many records.
I like the sort of early 2000s production before the serious compression and shit drum stuff started. Also, this obsession with tightness to the point where it begins to lack heaviness drives me nuts. Though, that's not the issue with the new Borknagar. The issue with Universal is that everything is so loud that it's difficult to make out what's going onthis creates the issue with the mix.
But I think that the songwriting is different as well. The record is far less traditional than a record like Quintessence or even Empiricism, which I think are pretty straight. The band has continued walking the Path o' Prog, and by driving into this novel territory, they also have the issue of how to produce it well.
But Borknagar is definitely not the only band that I have production issues with these days. So many bands have just shitty sounding drums because they're being pushed into the treble range to try to differentiate them from the bass and guitars because the bass and guitars are too effing loud. So despite the fact that a bass drum should naturally be way louder than guitars, and nice and thick.. it comes off as being a tiny click. Sometimes this is triggers, but often times it's just the natural outcome of these trends. Metal is getting more and more of this, and people are stealing from Metalcore production, too. Actually, interestingly enough, Trevor from The Black Dahlia Murder had some interesting things to say about this when I interviewed himbasically that he thought that metal as a whole had been ripping off the metalcore production sound, despite hating the music..
Anyway, long and short of it is that Universal suffers from a production problem. It's sad, because with a clearer, simpler production (even though raw), Universal would have sounded more powerful. I mean, the new Sigh for example, has what many are calling very *bad* production. But one is never at a loss for what's going on there, and it is highly effective.
)!! that's fckin marvellous!! 
