Borknagar - Quintessence

When a band names their latest album "Quintessence", you can be sure that they're pretty confident in their abilities, and after 1998's stunning Archaic Course, Borknagar no longer have anything to prove. To us, anyway, as the band has gone through yet another roster change, with a new keysmith and drummer in the ranks, with the latter maybe having some big shoes to fill after the stopgap entry of Nick Barker on tour. And this is where I digress on the percussive aspects of the record, noticing some intricacies upon the first few spins, but only really hearing them after discovering the out of control Spiral Architect CD. This guy is an amazing drummer, not in terms of fills per second, but in the simple fact that he plays exactly what is needed here. After hearing his previous work, I know what this guy is capable of, and the restraint used here saves the day for me, because this is just the foundation for that soon to be classic Borknagar sound. Brun has said that he sees these compositions in terms of colors, and while I may obstain from the magic mushrooms, I can see the idea behind this. Equating the colors with layers of sound, you can either mix everything in small doses to create something from the impressionist era, or pollute everything into a nice muddy brown design. Again, restraint appears to be a factor, for there is tons going on here, but all so appropriate, it's obvious that the goal was known and agreed upon before the first riffs were penned. Truth be told, I was a bit disappointed upon the first few listens, for there's so much to grasp, and some of the more grandious elements from The Archaic Course are absent. As time progressed though, this is rapidly becoming THE Borknagar release for me, the exchange of Woodhouse's pristine yet somewhat light production for that mammoth Abyssal sound increasinging the heaviness factor in the relevent places. Excellent performances from some of the more known names in the Scandanavian scene, this may indeed be the quintessential document for all parties concerned, and a very logical step onwards from the band's outstanding previous collected works.