EMPIRICISM

Empiricism is the fifth full-length studio album by Norwegian melodic/ symphonic black metal act Borknagar. After the recording of Quintessence (2000) vocalist/ bassist I.C.S. Vortex left the band and new lead vocalist on Empiricism is Vintersorg. New bassist is Tyr.

The music on Empiricism is much in the same vein as on Quintessence though. The lineup changes doesn´t mean that much even though I know some people find Vintersorg´s vocals to be an aquired taste. The vocals still alternate between raspy black metal style vocals and clean male vocals. Well executed vocals IMO. The music is dominated by loads and loads of classical inspired keyboards, organ and synths by Lars A. Nedland ( Age of Silence, Winds, Vintersorg, Solefald) and the guitars which are normally the most prominent instrument in metal is a bit more in the background. The drums are excellent and it´s greatly enjoyable that Asgeir Mickelson lends his skills to another Borknagar album. He is such a skilled drummer. The songs are very melodic and generally memorable even though they do tend to get a bit trivial towards the end of the album. I´m not much a fan of this melodic/ symphonic black metal genre though so fans of the genre might feel otherwise.

The musicianship and production is top notch. Nothing wrong in that department.

Empiricism is a good album by Borknagar and I was actually considering at some point if it deserved a 4 star rating but I´ve come to the conclusion that it´s a big 3 star rating. Not quite to my taste but definitely a quality album.