Archive for January 2012
Borknagar plays Club Inferno at Volt
We can now announce a concert at the Volt Club in Lørenskog as part of Club Inferno, the exact date is 4th of April 2012. The date for our Inferno gig will be presented at the kickoff on John Dee in Oslo 28th of January. I’ve previously explained what Volt is in the post named “The Volt Chapter“. We will have support from some of the local bands, “Tuesday Forgets” and “We built this Ocean”.
Asgeir and myself flanked by members of Tuesday Forgets and We Built This Ocean.
Recent news from the Borknagar camp is release dates;
GERMANY / AUSTRIA / SWITZERLAND / NORWAY: Friday, March 23, 2012.
UK / BENELUX / FRANCE / GREECE / DENMARK / PORTUGAL / REST OF EUROPE: Monday, March 26, 2012.
SPAIN / ITALY: Tuesday, March 27, 2012.
SWEDEN / FINLAND / HUNGARY: Wednesday, March 28, 2012.
AUSTRALIA / NEW ZEALAND: Friday, March 30, 2012.
And I also want to add the full pressrelease sent out by Century Media naming the title of the album ;
BORKNAGAR – Complete work on new studio album; Announce title and release dates!
Norwegian Avantgarde Metallers BORKNAGAR have finalized mixing duties for their upcoming studio album with Jens Bogren at acclaimed Fascination Street Studios (Opeth, Paradise Lost, Katatonia, etc.) in Sweden and have now checked in to announce that the long awaited new effort will be titled “Urd” and is to be released on March 26th, 2012 in Europe as well as March 27th, 2012 in North America via Century Media Records.
BORKNAGAR’s mastermind Øystein G. Brun has checked in with the following message:
“Well, our new album “Urd” was finished in mid December and all in all we spent about 6 months to record, produce and mix it. In the “Bork-World” this isn’t really long, but I can assure you that we have never before invested so much time, energy and effort into one single production. It has been a tough, yet inspiring ride. Since June 2011 I have constantly been working with this album, recording, editing and so forth – day and night. The same goes for my comrades, never before have we made an album where everybody in the band has been so heavily involved and dedicated as this time around. “Urd” is surely the peak of our musical journey so far and we are extremely proud to have made this giant of an album! It’s massive, it’s emotional, it’s fast, it’s slow, it’s epic, and it’s progressive…all the ingredients that we have crafted our musical world on! And not to mention the “golden threesome” on vocals (Vintersorg, Mr. Vortex and Lazare) really shines on this album…Do I need to say more?!”
Furthermore he explains the album title within the band’s historical context as follows:
“Our previous album was called “Universal” and where should we go after an album title with such a magnitude? Well, we decided to head back home to earth. We really wanted to get back to the core of the band, where it all started – the admiration and pondering about nature and mankind’s place therein. “Urd” is the name of one of the norns that according to northern mythology stands under Yggdrasill and weaves the lifeline of mankind. “Urd” is representing the past, while “Verdande” is representing the present and “Skuld” is representing the future. You might very well say that this is an ancient expression of what we today know as DNA. And I have always been very fascinated by the fact that parts and bits of our DNA actually derive from the very beginning of time. All living creatures are somewhat connected to the very first organic cell. That is some of the story behind the album title…”
BORKNAGAR Line-Up:
Øystein G. Brun – Clean & Electric Guitars (Cronian, ex Molested)
Vintersorg – Grim Vocals, Clean Vocals & Choirs (Vintersorg, Fission)
Lars A. Nedland – Keys, Clean Vocals & Choirs (Solefald, ex Carpathian Forest)
Jens F. Ryland – Lead Guitars (ICS Vortex)
ICS Vortex – Bass, Clean Vocals & Choirs (ex Dimmu Borgir, Arcturus, ICS Vortex)
Drums and percussion on “Urd” were performed by David Kinkade (Soulfly, ex Malevolent Creation).
BORKNAGAR Live 2012:
04.-07.04. Oslo (Norway) – Inferno Festival / www.infernofestival.net
13.-14.04. Lichtenfels (Germany) – Ragnarök Festival / www.ragnaroek-festival.com
More dates will be announced soon…
More details and information about the upcoming BORKNAGAR release will be issued soon…
Official BORKNAGAR sites:
www.borknagar.com
www.myspace.com/borknagar
www.facebook.com/borknagarofficial
Century Media Records online:
www.centurymedia.com
www.facebook.com/centurymedia
www.youtube.com/centurymedia
Century Media webshop:
www.cmdistro.com
———–Jens
ICS Vortex confirmed for Farmerfest
ICS Vortex have been confirmed for the Farmerfest in Barcelona- Spain 1st of September. Good bill this one
————-Jens
The Volt chapter
A month or two back I presented the idea to Asgeir and ICS Vortex about getting engaged with a Youth-Club I’ve come in contact with. This club is named Volt and is located in Lørenskogs Hus which is only 6-7 minutes away from where I live, just outside Oslo. Funny enough they both responded far more positive then I expected and the reasons are very obvious. First of all we have all been connected to different Youth-Clubs in our early music career where we played with bands, learned some tricks and got to try some equipment and ideas. Secondly we now have kids and it feels natural to get engaged with the Youth and learn about the different organized activities our kids can get involved with in the future.
Our engagement is volunteer and without schedules, and we also get to use the facilities they offer which are very good. The whole building named Lørenskogs Hus is brand new and Volt includes both a recording studio, a media/ film workshop, an art/ paint/ graffiti workshop and a “black-box” venue with state-of-the-art sound- and light-equipment. Connected to Volt is also the Music-School organized by the county and the whole eight floors of this building is all about culture with a brand new cinema and a library over three floors! Volt even has it’s own cafe which is open all afternoon.
So far we have scheduled rehearsal hours for ICS Vortex at Volt, although we have not quite started up for real. We want to engage with the Youth here to inspire the music scene to grow, there are already a few rock and metal bands lurking in the corridors and there seems to be some very skilled young musicians taking solo classes with different instruments. We will most likely schedule workshops, advice the bands on different issues, help to produce demos in the studio, organize concerts and so on.
Three weeks back we used Volt to do a photo shoot with Borknagar. We found it suitable as Asgeir was our photographer even. The shots are meant for the upcoming Borknagar album.
The bands who want to contact us can do so through the coordinator at the Volt Club. I’m thrilled with this, I’ve wanted to work with the youth for a while already and this seems to be a good opportunity.
————Jens
Lock Up- John Dee (Oslo)- Jan 4th 2012
Got a few pictures from the Lock Up concert as promised, enjoy:
And a bandphoto with a few guests.
—————-Jens
More confirmed Arcturus gigs!
Mythology has confirmed two more Arcturus shows:
5. May 2012
Reduta, Brasov, Romania, http://www.kogaionon.com/en/kruna
3. August 2012
Vagos Open Air 2012, Calvão, Vagos, Portugal, http://www.vagosopenair.eu
- Asgeir






















