Borknagar

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Borknagar
Background information
Origin	Bergen, Norway
Genre(s)	Black metal Progressive metal Folk metal
Years active	1995 - present
Label(s)	Malicious Records Century Media
Website	http://www.borknagar.com

Borknagar is a progressive 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. Borknagar's lyrics often deal with philosophy, paganism, nature, and the cosmos. The name Borknagar is an anagram of "Ragnarök", with a B thrown in to make it pronounceable (however, Øystein Brun stated once that the name was inspired by a Scottish legend about a man who climbed Lochnagar, a mountain in Scotland).

1 Biography
2 Discography
3 Members
- 3.1 Current members
- 3.2 Former members
4 External links

[edit] Biography

Borknagar rose out of the ashes of the Norwegian death metal band Molested when then-member Øystein Brun became tired of the brutal aspects of the band's music. Øystein formed Borknagar to explore a more melodic outlet of expression; he wrote all of the music and lyrics and gathered together an all-star group of black metal musicians to play in his band. Well-known musicians of the black metal scene (such as Infernus of Gorgoroth, Grim of Immortal and Gorgoroth, and Ivar Bjornson of Enslaved). And when Garm of Ulver, Head Control System, and ex-Arcturus joined the project, it brought immediate attention to Borknagar. The band never even recorded a demo – they simply asked for a record contract on Malicious Records and were granted their request. Borknagar's majestic, melodic sound was instantly liked by many and received positive press attention.

Borknagar has released seven albums to date. Their self-titled debut album features lyrics in Norwegian; all subsequent albums, except for The Olden Domain, have featured lyrics written in English by both ICS Vortex from Arcturus and Dimmu Borgir and later by current singer, Vintersorg from Otyg and his eponymous band. All of the band's records (excluding the original pressing of the debut album) have been released by the Century Media label. Borknagar has toured with various bands, including the legendary Emperor, Peccatum, In Flames, Morbid Angel, and the well-known Cradle of Filth. The most recent Borknagar album, "Origin", is "an acoustic effort based entirely on the epic and progressive aspect of the band", according to mainman Øystein G. Brun's statement on Blabbermouth.net [1].

[edit] Discography

Year	Title	Label
1996	Borknagar	Malicious Records
1997	The Olden Domain	Century Media Records
1998	The Archaic Course	Century Media Records
2000	Quintessence	Century Media Records
2001	Empiricism	Century Media Records
2004	Epic	Century Media Records
2006	Origin	Century Media Records