15. Borknagar – “True North”

Borknagar are an anomaly. Probably the one band I adore that I am yet to see live. My good friend Steve Hulse sees it as a veritable badge of honour that he has seen them and I haven’t. Borknagar are Black prog and in many ways are/were the Black Metal equivalent of early Opeth (before they went wholesale Prog). They were very active during the late nineties and early noughties and were part of a secondary wave of Norwegian Black that started to experiment more with the template and add other influences. For a good eight years, they were more or less dormant but since 2010 they have gone through an incredible patch of creative fertility. “Universal”, “Urd” and “Winterthrice” were all utterly brilliant and “True North” shows that have no intent of slowing down. This is Prog with the added bonus of Black Metal’s brutal furiousity and atmospherics. The vocals are mainly clean and the guitars are up tuned and soar rather than gnarl. There are layers and layers and layers of sound. The depth and complexity that they manage to achieve is utterly incredible. It also feels warm and emotional. Most Black Metal is cold and heartless by its very nature, but this is full of touches that makes the whole thing feel emotive and organic. Brilliant!