Line Up:

Øystein Garnes Brun: Guitars
Jens F. Ryland: Guitars
Lars Nedland: Keybaords
Asgeir Mickelson: Drums
Tyr: Bass
Vintersorg: Vocals

The dawn of a new era

Borknagar was first founded by guitarist Øystein Garnes Brun in 1995, who previously played in the Norwegian metalband Molested. After 2 albums Molested split up due to a number of different circumstances. Øystein wanted to move on with his music and started his own project Borknagar. He wrote all the music and lyrics. Øystein then called into its ranks the formidable talents of some "all-star" black metal musicians who liked the idea to play majestic epical metal. The first album was born. This self titled debut album has the likes of Garm (who also plays in both Ulver and Arcturus and owns Jester Records) doing the vocals, drummer Grim (ex-Immortal, Gorgoroth and Ancient), Ivar Bjornson doing the keyboards (ex-Enslaved) and bassist Infernus (who played in Gorgoroth). The first album was instantly released by Malicious records, Borknagar even didn't have a demo. The press reactions were excellent and people liked the fresh sound of this project. The epical music was something original at that time and people were looking forward to the next album.

The Oceans rose

After their succesful debut Øystein started to write the songs for the next album. He signed Borknagar to the popular German metal label Century Media to release The Olden Domain. Because of some difficulties Infernus left the band and was replaced by Kai K. Lie. Taking full advantage of their newfound resources, the group entrenched themselves in the fabled Woodhouse Studios in Hagen, Germany. The album had a big impact in the metalscene. This was highly exceptional music and because of the huge success the project became a band. Borknagar did a phenomenal job in distanciating themselves from the corpsepainted hordes, utilizing a dense arrangement of instrumentation (including acoustic guitar and piano sections) and vocal choir effects to give them a rich quality that few bands of their sect possess. It's not a stretch to comment that The Olden Domain is probably one of the finest-sounding records the black metal scene has to offer. Øystein even prefers to avoid the black metal tag, opting for Epic Metal in its place, and it's a fitting description for this highly skilled and musically ambitious group.

A new domain

Because of the great impact The Olden Domain had Borknagar went on their first tour through Europe alongside In Flames and Night in Gales. They also attracted 2 new members to the band, Jens F. Ryland and Simen Hestnæs. Jens plays the second guitar on stage and has been since then a full time member. Simen is the new vocalist of the band and replaced Garm, who left on a friendly base and was searching for new musical experiences. Although there were some small technical problems on the first tour Borknagar were still succesful and could rely on a great response from the audience.