Once again centered around the concepts of Oystein G. Brun, the latest Borknagar album marks the band's strongest and most talented lineup yet. Bringing aboard multi-talented vocalist Vintersorg and Emperor live bassist ... more »Tyr, Borknagar's new brain trust offers Empiricism, the most expansive and organic record of their career. (Century Media)« less
Once again centered around the concepts of Oystein G. Brun, the latest Borknagar album marks the band's strongest and most talented lineup yet. Bringing aboard multi-talented vocalist Vintersorg and Emperor live bassist Tyr, Borknagar's new brain trust offers Empiricism, the most expansive and organic record of their career. (Century Media)
CD Reviews
Great recording
mysanthropyk_overlord | USA | 01/10/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a great CD; very melodic, with great vocals, admirable percussion, and above-satisfactory guitar work. The keyboards and synths really help out too. I don't see how this is black metal, as it doesn't seem to fit the bill for that subgenre. The extreme vocals are definitely black-metal style, but other than that, it seems like it's one of those albums that you just can't categorize within one subgenre. Vintersorg is a great vocalist in both the extreme and clean regimes. I haven't heard Simen's or Garm's work with Borknagar yet (but will be buying those albums soon), so I can't really compare them to Vintersorg, but I know that the vocals on this album only add to a brilliant layer of melodic metal majesty. The opening song is the best, but there aren't any bad songs. The lyrics are a little difficult to understand, but they beat the usual black metal array of satanism and misanthropy. That gets really tiresome after a while. This is a great album and I recommend it highly to anyone interested in high-quality melodic metal. But it's not for you soft-hearted whiners who are offended by the 'screaming' vocals."
Excellent follow-up to Quintesence
AAron caldwell | Portland Oregon | 02/05/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Borknagar's new release is their first offering with new vocalist Vintersorg. i bought this the day it came out because i love all that Borknagar has done in the past and i am a fan of Vintersorg's solo project. the album is the best produced offering they have released and it is also their most technical. if you are a fan of the new style black metal (good production and heavy keyboards) then you will surery love this disc. i was dissappointed to learn that Vortex would not be handling the vocal duties this time around, but Vintersorg is a great successor. his clean vocals are a real treat and his growl is strong as well. one reason that i like Borknagar so much is that their lyrics are not typical black-metal lyrics. it is refreshing to hear about something other than Satan. actually, their is not much about this band that is typical at all. overall, i would say that this cd doesn't immediately have as many stand-out tracks as Quintesence, but it is a more consistent album all the way through. i jope this line-up lasts because they are making a really great sound together. i sometimes feel silly describing metal as being beautiful, but i will go ahead and label this disc as such. Borknagar is a awesome band. Empericism is really great."
Immaculate Post Black Metal Album
Chernobog | South Africa | 10/20/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This cd sees the appearence of Vintersorg on vocals instead of the vocal genius Vortex who did vocals on the last 3 Borknagar albums. This puts off many of the hardcore fans of the band and I am also a great fan of Vortex but i must say that the vocals on this album are excellent. Vintersorg has a strong clean voice and a good black metal rasp, and these both are blended to good effect on some of the tracks. Overall the music is a extreme hybrid of traditional black metal with ambient overtones especially on the keyboards. The drumming by Asgeir Mickelson who is also from Spiral Architect is flawless and his blasting is also very good. The guitar work is amazing, Oystein brun who is also the mastermind behind the band weaving some complex riffs and song structures. The bass work is very professional and adds to the overall atmosphere on the album, it is done by Tyr who is session bass player for the now split up Emperor and Satyricon. The production is fairly standard black metal production with a slight bit of fuzz but not overbearing and a mix which fades out the guitars a little bit but just enough so the vocals can stand out. The whole album is pretty much outstanding and there are no filler tracks but my favourites are tracks 1,2,6 and 7. Highly recommended to black metal fans and also fans of intelligent music."
\m/ BLACK METAL-genius style \m/
Jonathon Mcphetres | Texas, USA | 02/25/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"A brilliant avante garde approach to black metal. Beautiful and melodic, yet cruel, and eloquently dark. Flawlessly executed guitar parts combined with both Vintersorg's beautiful and gruesome vocals; handsomely written organ and choir parts all surrounded by a wave of ambience seamlessly carrying you through the song. This album is one of the greatest contributions to the Norwiegan metal scene. Shifting smoothly between soft flowing melodies to crushing, yet still elegant brutality. Empiricism is a big step from Quintessence, and I think the addition of Vintersorg had alot to do with that. Although Borknagar is like no other band, you can tell the similarities between Vintersorg and Borknagar in the lyrics, though the music still carries Oystein's and Lars' trademark sounds. This album, not unlike Vintersorg, explores the depth and reach of humanity through it's theology, history, and philosophy in a very avid and complete manner. "The tellar dome" and "Gods of my world" are my two favorite tracks. I can listen to them over and over and never get tired of them. The flowing shifts in each between the hard parts and the soft parts, intricate harmonies, and the gentle use of choirs and calm soothing vocals just draws you in and paints a picture of what the song is about. This band is one of my favorite bands because of their avante garde style- it still contains the elements of black metal, but yet not really. It holds the potential to be grim and evil, but never fully crosses over. It's so technical and precise. Borknagar is one of the bands that confirmed my belief that metal is THE best music out there. Metal is the most-experienced, complicated, technical and expressive genres of music period. In addition to "Empiricism", I reccomend their latest, "Epic", which really continues many of the thoughts and philosophy's started in "Quintessence" and "Empiricism"."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1