Customer Reviews

Epic

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well, I am a huge fan, have all the cd's, got the t-shirt, etc. This cd was a little more difficult to digest. I said the same thing about each cd as it came out. And six months after that, I came to the conclusion that the cd was better than the last. I can't yet say the same of this one. Along the same lines as Empiricism, however it shows Vintersorg's influence much more. Even the lyrical content has shifted a bit toward Sorgs' style. His singing is more eccentric, along the lines of his own band, and pulls away from the ICS Vortex legacy. I have no complaints about that, even though Archaic Course is my favorite. His vocals have improved, no doubt about that. The drumming has changed a bit, not as much to my liking. It might be a bit too repetitive, too predictable for him, and maybe a touch too many double bass beats for the time. The bass? Yeah, it's there, and done well, but you have to listen for it, the dual role hurt neither drums nor the bass... much. The guitar has never been one of the "key" points of this band, but there seems to be some actual riffs thrown around. Personally i think that aspect is much improved. The keyboards have also integrated themselves much better on this one, but not becoming overwhelming, unlike some other, better known bands in the genre. Some of the keyboard melodies are just creepy, some technical sounding, all original. A job well done there. I just dont know what it is though, this one has all that Empiricism had, and more, but refuses to unlock itself and prove to be a superior album. I'll give it an 8 out of 10 and a few more listens...

4 stars is a great album. an album that i'd love to be listening to at almost any time.
5 is reserved for very few albums. "Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk" by Emperor, With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness" by At The Gates, and "The Archaic Course" by Borknagar are three.
This album is better than Empiricism by leaps and bounds, but is still inferior by a great degree to The Archaic Course and The Olden Domain. It could be said to be on par with Quintessence, but is a highly different album.
The biggest difference is the guitar and synthesizer. The overall sound of the guitars is much much tougher than Empricism. While there are some flute synths and other stuff like that that you wouldn't call Metal, they are tucked away in places that actually make sense.
BUT BEYOND ALL THAT, The melodies and riffs for the songs are highly memorable, even amazing and incredible. Several of the songs are a great mix of Hard fast guitar playing with other more melodic parts. Many bands strive for a good mix of that, but Borknagar has such great success because of the quality of the guitar riffs and backing synths, in the heavy parts, and the inventiveness of the melodies in the melodic parts.
Vintersong's singing is a little less in your face in this song, and fits better with the overall feel. His style for this album is still his own, but it blends better. Relate (Dialogue) is a good example of his range and depth.
I don't know how the album is lyrically, because after Empiricism I vowed never to read the lyrics to a new Borknagar album, for the most part I haven't heard anything too bad, and have heard a few good things.
In Conclusion if you loved Borknagar, but hate empiricism, BUY THIS ALBUM.

This is actually my first Borknagar cd with Vintersorg as the vocalist. I first got into the band since I'm a big fan of Vortex. Vortex and Vintersorg have different singing abilities. I decided to give it a try with Vintersorg vocals. I did enjoy listening to vocals. Epic is a great album with really good songs, I may give Empiricism a try since I've heard good reviews on it.

Borknagar really impressed me with this release this being the first I'd heard from them I went out and got Empiricism, and that's just as good! What I love about these guys is no one sounds exactly like them, they have their own brand of Black/Folk/Prog metal that I have not heard anywhere else quite like this. The keyboards give them part of their unique sound combined with the guitars which aren't featured, but are not down played either. But what really put's Borknagar over the top is Vintersorg's incredible vocals. He goes from a black metal growl to soaring melodic singing which added with the music is mind blowing. Do yourself a favor and put down the As I Lay Dying, Trivium, Underoath, Unearth or whatever typical metalcore you're listening to and try something original for a change.

If your looking for another Empiricism, then look elsewere, because this is a new, and fresh sound for Borknagar. This album is extremely diverse and a very interesting listen. The different parts in the songs are almost like completely different styles of music. A wonderful balnce of peace, tranquillity, and fury makes this album a hard one to forget, even if it takes you a couple of listens to understand it. Completely original and innovative, this is THE BEST album of '04 as far as im concerned.

Borknagar is not new to me; they constantly brood beneath the radar existing as one of those bands whose name is all too familiar but is constantly passed up as my perception was that they would either be a slickly produced symphonic "black" metal band or a monotonous lump of blast beats and tortured rasps.

Borknagar, especially on Epic, has surpassed any aesthectic and the word 'genre' is not confused on the band; it is completely irrelevent. This album is light-years beyond any typical death metal offshoot. It contains the brutality and wall of noise of the most brutal death or black affair and the symphonic majesty of the more commercial black metal bands ( Old Man's Child, Dimmu Borgir ). Not that no other band has attempted to concoct these, and not that bands havn't succeeded (one could point to Emperor and state they did it a decade ago) but Borknagar seems to of perfected their craft to a point where any history seems far too pale in comparison.

Sparing the reader yet another list of song descriptions, I will say that this album, like no other in the extreme metal field I've heard before, demands to be listened to as an album, not song for song. The sleeve of the album doesn't title or number the tracks, and the lyrics are laid out and written more or less as poetic essays on the quintessence and cosmological make up of the universe and therefor mankind. Oystein, Vintersorg, and Nederland (excuse the mispellings) all contribute on the album and it is clear that these three men are able to relate to each other on the subjects as intellectual equals. The lyrics are by far the best metal lyrics I HAVE EVER READ.

Upon first hearing of this album I was rather cynical about the title, thinking it to be a generic tag in an attempt to garner fans from other genres. I was wrong as this album truly is an EPIC and any band who wishes to tag themselves as EPIC seriously need to give this album a listen. These are not symphonics thrown in solely for adding atmosphere to an otherwise completely brutal sound; these are symphonics that are composed in the true essence of the word. Along with Enslaved and Opeth, I now thoroughly believe that Borknagar have garnered themselves a spot among the ranks of Scandinavia's (and for that matter, the world's) finest and most creative heavy metal bands.

borknagar have always been one of those bands, while they are talented and vary their sound from album to album, never really seem to release anything that you will go back to over and over again. Q is really the only borknagar album i enjoy while only disliking 2 or 3 songs.

don't get me wrong, vintersorg is an amazing vocalist and i love his work with borknagar, and the musicians (especially the drummer) can obviously play, but the problem is that they seem so focused on creating "epic" songwriting, that most of their songs come off as completely boring. what i usually find is that the first 2 or 3 songs are really strong and i can go back and listen to them over and over, but the rest of the album just seems lost and boring. epic is no exception, in fact, sometimes many of the songs seem to blend together, which is nothing i would expect from borknagar.

as much as i really want to like this band and "epic", i can never get past 'traveller.' if you are a hardcore borknagar fan, you'll probably dig this, but i think this is a step back from their past works.

the name "Borknagar" conjures up images of a black metal band. I was expecting something brutal and speedy in the vein of Dimmu Borgir or Immortal, but they were more or less associated with culture on the album. it seems that this is a black metal band that has rejected Satanism. they also need a bass player. I wonder if this is the last from Borknagar, because on the Century Media website, one of the band members formed a new band called Cronian.

I had heard one song from this band and I knew I had to buy one of there cd's. What disapointed me is I could not find any of there cd's in any stores. I finally found one and after hearing this im going to have to order more of amazon.com. What amazed me with this is half of the time its yelling and screaming but somehow I still found it to be a little bit peaceful. I do admit the voice can get on your nerves sometimes and they try to cram more keyboarding in than they should but this cd is still worth owning. This is my first Borknagar cd but it sure isnt going to be my last.

Maybe. But all borknagar cds sound different from each other so it's very hard to compare them. However, this one does retain elements from their last album, empiricism, mainly the f***ed up lyrics about nature and the pace of the songs. and since it also has the mighty Vintersorg on vocals, i will use it to compare to this one.

No slow ballad type songs pers say but some are more quiet than others while some are fast and heavy, others are a little of both mixed in. The first thing you'll notice this time around is that the production is a lot louder and a lot clearer. You can actually hear the guitar this time and the drums are louder.

While empiricism focused more of creating long, epic songs this one concentrates on each individual band member more. The guitar (only one this time around) concentrates on creating riffs rather than a thousand acoustic riffs and melodies like on Emp. (although there is no shortage of these things here). This time around Oystein G Brun (band leader/mastermind) is the only guitar player so he's able to focus more.

Vintersorg is the next person to bring about a change in themselves. His "grim" vocals (as they are called in the book LOL) are deeper sounding, meatier sounding than on EMP, which were more higher pitched and shrieking. Also, on EMP, the clean vocals were near power metal soudning but on epic here, they are more streamlined and folky like on his vintersorg (his other band that shares his name) albums. He sounded A LOT like ICS VORTEX on EMP, i think he was trying to compete since ICS was the singer before them and vintersorg didn't want to make any fans turn away. However, vintersorgs "clean" vocals shine through on this album, very unique.

THe drumming is amazing yet again (their drummer, Asgeir Mickelson, is the spiral archetic drummer) although it's not as sporatic as last time. This time it's more focused and heavy and, at times, it actually pummels you. Top notch, just as good drumming as any they have done.

The bass (tyr left the band earlier this year) is also played by Mickelson and he's just as good on the bass guitar as he is on drums. The bass sounds A LOT better than on the last cd because it's not as high pitched and "bouncy" sounding.

and Nedland's keyboards are back and they fit a lot better. Last time, they were used mainly to heighten the atmosphere of the music but now they are treated as their own instrument, playing it's own piece of music in the songs. it works really well.

all in all, any borknagar fan (i doubt there are any casual fans of a band such as this) should find this a worthwile addition to the every growing and amazing catalog of what Borknagar has to offer.

PS: if anyone knows what the heck Borknagar means in english, please email. thanks!