Borknagar's 2006 offering Origin is a missed opportunity to produce an engaging, semi-symphonic acoustic album. The band is musically stilted but on point as one would expect from a progressive metal act. It's the vocal department that primarily drops the album short of its goal. Unaided by trite and often embarrassingly heavy-handed lyrics, Vintersorg's warbling frequently borders on cringe-inducing. The songwriting, which is pretty and interesting at times, seems to call for a less brazen approach, so the vocal presence undermines the effect of the lush instrumentation and the overall atmosphere the band attempted to create. It's a shame really, because this could have been a compelling record had it not felt so forced.
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