Borknagar is the debut album by the Norwegian band of the same name

Borknagar

Borknagar is a progressive black metal band from Bergen, Norway, founded in 1995 by Øystein Garnes Brun. The band's style combines folk metal and black metal with progressive and melodic elements...

. It is their only album to feature lyrics in the Norwegian language

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

, as well as their only pure black

Black metal

Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....

/viking metal

Viking metal

Viking metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its galloping pace, keyboard-rich anthemic sound, bleakness and dramatic emphasis on lyrical themes of Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the Viking Age...

 album, as they would progress on to a somewhat more melodic/progressive black metal sound on their later albums. It is their only album to feature Infernus on bass (who reportedly recorded all the bass tracks in one day), and their only album recorded at the reputed Grieghallen Studios (frequented by other black metal bands such as Emperor

Emperor (band)

Emperor was a Norwegian black metal band formed in 1991. They dissolved in 2001, but reunited in 2006 and again in 2007 for a few festival dates and brief US tours. The group was founded by Samoth and Ihsahn .-Biography:...

 and Gorgoroth

Gorgoroth

Gorgoroth is a Norwegian black metal band based in Bergen. Formed in 1992 by Infernus , the band is named after the dead plateau of evil and darkness in the land of Mordor from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. The group is currently signed to Regain Records and have released...

).

Track listing

All tracks by Øystein G. Brun except were noted

1. "Vintervredets Sjelesagn" (Soul Tale of Winter Wrath) – 6:44
2. "Tanker Mot Tind (Kvelding)" (Thoughts Towards the Peak (Dusk)) (Ivar Bjørnson
   Ivar Bjørnson
   Ivar Bjørnson is a Norwegian composer/guitarist for the progressive black/viking metal band Enslaved. He is, along with Grutle Kjellson, one of only two founding members left in the current line-up, being only 13 years old at the time of the band's formation...
   
   ) – 3:29
3. "Svartskogs Gilde" (Black Forest's Feast) – 5:52
4. "Ved Steingard" (By the Stone Wall) – 2:14
5. "Krigsstev" (War Song) – 2:03
6. "Dauden" (Death) – 5:49
7. "Grimskalle Trell" (Grim Skull Slave) – 5:38
8. "Nord Naagauk" (Northern Cuckoo) – 3:07
9. "Fandens Allheim" (The Devil's Universe) – 6:19
10. "Tanker Mot Tind (Gryning)" (Thoughts Towards the Peak (Dawn)) (Ivar Bjørnson
    Ivar Bjørnson
    Ivar Bjørnson is a Norwegian composer/guitarist for the progressive black/viking metal band Enslaved. He is, along with Grutle Kjellson, one of only two founding members left in the current line-up, being only 13 years old at the time of the band's formation...
    
    ) – 2:57

Personnel

• Garm
  Kristoffer Rygg
  Kristoffer Rygg , also known as Garm, Trickster G. and recently also God Head is a Spellemannprisen nominated vocalist, musician and producer known as the frontman of Ulver and former vocalist for Arcturus...
  
   – vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Øystein G. Brun – acoustic & electric guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Ivar Bjørnson
  Ivar Bjørnson
  Ivar Bjørnson is a Norwegian composer/guitarist for the progressive black/viking metal band Enslaved. He is, along with Grutle Kjellson, one of only two founding members left in the current line-up, being only 13 years old at the time of the band's formation...
  
   – keyboard
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  
• Infernus – bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Grim
  Erik Brødreskift
  Erik Brødreskift was a Norwegian drummer, who played in several black metal bands during his career...
  
   – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  

Production

• Arranged By Borknagar; All Songs Copyright Control.
• Produced By Borknagar & Pytten
• Recorded & Mixed By Pytten at Greighallen Studios.

External Links

• Borknagar-Borknagar (1996 Debut Album)