2026 Anniversary Series 088: Borknagar – Borknagar

Scribed by Sandre the Giant Released: 3rd August 1996 The self titled debut of Norwegian progressive black metallers Borknagar thirty years ago signalled somewhat of a changing of the guard for how black metal was evolving from its second wave roots. Enter Øystein Brun, sick of doing death metal in Molested and ready to take the leap to what he viewed as the more flexible and expansive black metal genre. Gathering around him some serious legends of the genre (Garm from Ulver, Ivar Bjørnson from Enslaved, Infernus from Gorgoroth and Grim from Immortal), this lineup of soon-to-be icons created one of the greatest transition-period black metal albums I’ve ever heard, and one of the overall finest black metal debuts there has ever been. Thirty years on, I wanted a chance to reassess its place in black metal’s sordid history. The richness and innate melodicism of Borknagar’s sound on their debut were not unheard of in black metal’s early years, especially on albums like ‘Frost’ or ‘In the…