Borknagar's Lars Nedland Speaks to BW&BK

Currently on the promotion trail to push his new Solefald album In Harmonia Universali - open minded black metal fans would be wise to check it out - Borknagar keyboardist Lars "Lazare" Nedland gave BW&BK some insight as to what is in store for the fans.

"Yeah, the new one is going to be a reggae album," Nedland laughs. "Actually, it's going to be a continuation of Empiricism, but I think there will be more of the traditional acoustic passages. And, there will be an even bigger focus on the vocal melodies this time, now that we have the time to sit down and really work things out. We've got about twelve or thirteen songs written and we're picking out the ones we like best for the album. We're entering the studio in the middle of March, and I figure we'll be finished by the middle of the summer, which means an autumn release."

Although guitarist Oystein is the creative force behind Borknagar, Nedland reveals that he and the other members of the band contribute fully to the songwriting. For Nedland this means a welcome dose of structure in his compositions.

"Borknagar and Solefald are very different bands, but I do in fact write for both. Solefald is just me and (singer/guitarist) Cornelius doing everything, and Borknagar is a full band. Oystein is the core of the band, so he decides on the basis for all the songs and we work out all the different parts together. The inspirations for both bands are different, which means that all my madness comes to the surface in Solefald while Borknagar is a more controlled sort of insanity (laughs). I have lines that I set for myself that I don't think I should cross in Borknagar. Of course, because ideas for both bands are coming out of the same person, I think you can hear things in Borknagar that make their way into Solefald and vice versa."

"It's funny, though. Most Solefald fans also enjoy Borknagar, but not all Borknagar fans can enjoy Solefald. I think that's because Borknagar has a much more controlled form of musical expression."

Source: BW&BK