The turning of the leaves, the late stages of life and the inevitable demise of civilization are all points of consideration when leaning in to interpret the muse upheld within this twelfth full-length album from three decade strong Bergen, Norway-borne progressive/melodic metal quintet Borknagar though they sum these thoughts as a shared sense of survival within the season, the struggle upstream provided by the natural world throughout life. ‘Fall‘ does not skirt the inevitable reality of life’s demise so much as it assuages the nihil of the thought with wonderment for the natural order of things and highlights the fortitudes with which most all are equipped. Otherwise one can head into this record expecting an at times deeper contemplative and darker etched panorama than that of their celebrated pre-pandemic album prior which lacks none of the accessible ambitions and strong sense of self afforded all of their additively mustered discography.

Borknagar formed circa 1994 by way of guitarist and main songwriter Øystein Brun who’d proven pragmatic enough in moving from the then long-toothed death metal age enjoyed by prior band Molested toward a more melodious, spiritual approach that focused on (then pushed far beyond) black metal. The history of the band is not set within a single spire but viewable as an orchard of still-thriving artists occupying various chairs in the maestro’s orchestra over the years, including but not limited to folks also known for Ulver, Vintersorg, Solefald, Enslaved, Gorgoroth, Leprous and more. As such, their evolution is perhaps a testament to project management and artist wrangling as Brun’s work remained in continual step away from expectations ’til a foundation for tuneful melodic metal steadily emerged from taste in black metal abstraction alongside progressive rock and Nordic folk inspiration. With twelve full-lengths to consider we can compartmentalize the past as relevant, a lingering defiance of the soul brilliantly beset in the late 90’s master strokes of their first three albums. Much as I’d love to run-on detailing each, it will suffice to say that staunch black metal fandom interested in prog-black and era-specific vikingr adjacent tunefulness should be happy with their transformation up through and ’til ‘Quintessence‘ (2000). Beyond that point I could only pick favorites and describe their work as progressive melodic metal. When it released I was a huge fan of ‘Epic‘ (2004) and later on folks might recall I’d especially geeked out on the peak vocally driven ambitions of ‘Urd‘ (2012) which I’d consider their greatest accomplishment in the style they’d cultivated since 2007 or so, having featured three key vocalists serving a maelstrom of harmonized highs and characteristic tangents therein. In fact I recall the surprise from folks when I’d placed the album at #6 on my Best of 2012 back in the day, despite being a big fan of most associated acts.

Though I understand the compulsion of longtime fandom to parse needless rankings for the sake of conversation I’d prefer not to speak to the endless comparison of this-or-that vocalist which is so often occurring in the core conversation about Borknagar. They’ve employed some of the best from their region and I’m certainly not here to compare their tits, in fact my preference for an album like ‘Urd‘ comes from getting a bit of everything past-and-present vocalists had to offer feeding into one patiently melodramatic showing. While I’d found Vintersorg‘s voice always invigorated each Borknagar record he was on, the intended reprisal of that three vocalist magick on ‘Winter Thrice‘ (2016) wasn’t there for my own taste and the maximal approach lost some manner of theatric value along the way. This is where I’d lapsed as a fan ’til picking up ‘Fall‘, of course having missed the most important context for its style and approach per their popular escalation found on 2019’s ‘True North‘, easily the most accessible release from the band to date. So, point being that while I know the language, the history, and the depth of the band part of appreciating this twelfth release involved figuring my way through the previous album in hindsight while figuring why it’d been so well received, taking to heart the repeated suggestion in the press materials that ‘Fall‘ is a successor, a follow-up, and a continuation of the momentum provided by their previous pre-pandemic album. Part of this is the usual clever spin applied to popular music but in the case of this artist we can always expect the next album to build upon the successes of, or avenues opened by, the previous.

The shorthand response to this context naturally offers few different channels to the greater river of ‘Fall‘. If you liked the previous album, this record continues down a similarly slick path, takes the same number of chances while following that general format, and offers a few pieces which are more attuned to rasped vocals (“Afar”) and a kick of speed (“Stars Ablaze”) here and there. If you didn’t like the prog-rock attunement (“Up North”) and simpler vocal melodies (“Voices”) per the previous album or aren’t familiar with it ‘Fall‘ offers a different set of moods and momentum while swinging directly toward similar ideas, though the lyrics in some cases ponder more distraught or personal musings. Overall the vibe of this record seems to be seeking the bigger picture of a future which is proving to be as doomed, erring toward entropy as it seems to be rather than recreating the prideful and warmed spaces of ‘True North‘. Here Borknagar aren’t resigned to a hopeless yarn so much as a realistic state of mind, concerned with the bleak turning of the wheel in the world of men while also mourning what has been lost, eroded away from the face of the Earth within thier lifetime. My loose interpretation, anyhow.

“Summits” opens the album with a rasping-black and rousing work which previews the dramatic sway of its loft with some melodic foreshadowing peeking through, eventually swelling up to a bombastic point of entry which takes me back to the 2010-2016 era of the band with a bit of black metallic escalator movement balancing out the anthemic chorus and its notable refrains. This is probably the one song on this album most suited to my own expectations of Borknagar in terms of energetic dramatism in multi-tiered, urgent reveal. For a moment I’d been enthused as it felt like this first song was already off to a better start than the prior two releases from the band but just as quickly we are dropped into “Nordic Anthem“, which is positioned where the out-of-character strides of “Up North” had appeared on the last album but here on this album it reads more like “Voices” per its singular vocal melody and rings of a show closing piece rather than an opener. It severely knocks aback the momentum built up front. Right off the bat the listening experience is frankly pretty much soured (granted, I love the lyrical intent of the song) in terms of repeated full listens and I’d had to shift my own focus towards collecting the most redeeming pieces here and judging the full listen based on an average of collective parts.

“Afar” has a symphonic metal feeling atmosphere to start, slow to arrive but harsh in its initial push, as we return to the momentum of the opener. The somewhat complex, or, verbose cadence and harmonized edge of the vocals here offer a the bright light within the pieces lean into some harsher verses at the start and mid-point. I’d particularly enjoyed the delayed harmonization available to the ~2:45 minute mark of the verse, a fine detail I’d returned to more than once. “Stars Ablaze” offers one of the more immersive, lengthier songs on the album at around eight and a half minutes as a fine mix of moods and textures which retain the distraught yet resilient feeling of prior songs while making sure to insert the vocal hook to the point that the song quickly becomes memorable and a welcomed piece whenever revisiting the album; As we step toward “Unraveling” I’ll admit ‘Fall’ had begun to win me over again thanks to the vocal interplay between Simen Hestnæs and Lars Nedland being perhaps more humbly set at times but still reaching those ever-higher plateaus song after song. The Borknagar sound was best represented here between the patient mountaineering of “Stars Ablaze” and the more directly shot soaring of “Unraveling”. Likewise we get some old signatures of the band, such as Hammond-esque organs, chipping into the layers here and there in the second half of the album which further reinforce their long running characterization.

It isn’t until “Northward” has spread its wings across its grand ten minute finale that I’d begin to feel like ‘Fall‘ comes full-circle back toward the opener and that most, not all of its pieces are relevant to the intent of the rest of the album. This big endpoint, does a fantastic job of closing the full listen with another big moment which serves the excess nature of their work. Sure, they’ve done bigger things and gone way over the top in the past but in this case the mood of this record and how it links up with the lyrical themes does eventually reach a point of just above-average precision even if I’d felt like some of the songs were sentimental “pop metal” on some level; Otherwise I’d felt this was one of the least chaotic renders of a Borknagar album to date and one of their better album cover artworks (this one ah via Eliran Kantor), all things considered. While there is some clear depth and immersive value to ‘Fall‘ it didn’t always click with me, didn’t push any important boundaries beyond comfort, and lost me with its (at times) simpler wares, ensuring that I am more likely to revisit a handful of stellarly pieces on this record rather than jam on the full listen for months on end. A moderately high recommendation.

---