When we think about progressive metal, about something avant-gaard, something that defies the senses, we think in Borknagar. The Norwegian collective is back with “Winter Thrice”, an album that continues the sound style that they created and only they could master. Taking us back to an imaginary where the old meets the futurist, their own vision of Yggdrasil shown in the artwork prepare us to what we’re going to ear. “The Rhymes of the Mountain”, and the single “Winter Thrice”, are very good starts showing what we could get during all album. “Cold Runs the River” with stunning melodic lines, and “Panorama” with some folk touch are the highlights of the album, with the dwelling of voices ofVintersorg, the keyboard player Lazare, and the iconic bass player ICS Vortex working really well, on clean parts and on growling parts,. Mixed and mastered at Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden, the production made the guitar sound amazing, and the keyboards as well, giving deep and making the best of each song coming out very naturally. Very different from “Urd”, we can expect something in between “Epic” and “Universal”, although at some point we feel that we’ve listen to some parts on other records of the band as well.
6/10
