Norwegian avantgarde metallers BORKNAGAR have unveiled the cover art for their new studio album, Urd, to be released on the following dates via Century Media Records:

March

23 - Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway
26 - UK, Benelux, France, Greece, Denmark, Portugal, Rest Of Europe
27 - Spain, Italy, North America
28 - Sweden, Finland, Hungary
30 - Australia, New Zealand

The album’s artwork was designed by Brazilian artist Marcelo Vasco and can be seen below:

Borknagar mastermind Øystein G. Brun comments on the artwork as follows: “The cover and design for Urd is spot on when it comes to portraying the very core of the band. This time around we wanted an earthly expression through our cover and general design to support and empower the main themes on the album. You can almost smell and feel the texture of the old Norse wooden carvings - still there is a sophisticated and eclectic approach to the expression that entwines perfectly into the music. Marcelo Vasco enhanced our ideas into brilliance, he painted the face of the beast that is about to be unleashed..."

Borknagar recently finalized mixing duties for the album with Jens Bogren at Sweden’s Fascination Street Studios. The tracklisting for the album is as follows:

'Epochalypse'

'Roots'

'The Beauty Of Dead Cities'

'The Earthling'

'The Plains Of Memories'

'Mount Regency'

'Frostrite'

'The Winter Eclipse'

'In A Deeper World'

The band previously explained the album title and its overall concept as follows: “Our previous album was called Universal and where should we go after an album title with such a magnitude? Well, we decided to head back home to earth. We really wanted to get back to the core of the band, where it all started - the admiration and pondering about nature and mankind’s place therein. Urd is the name of one of the norns that according to northern mythology stands under Yggdrasill and weaves the lifeline of mankind. Urd is representing the past, while Verdande is representing the present and Skuld is representing the future. You might very well say that this is an ancient expression of what we today know as DNA. And I have always been very fascinated by the fact that parts and bits of our DNA actually derive from the very beginning of time. All living creatures are somewhat connected to the very first organic cell. That is some of the story behind the album title…”

Borknagar lineup:

Øystein G. Brun – Clean & Electric Guitars (CRONIAN, ex-MOLESTED)

Vintersorg – Grim Vocals, Clean Vocals & Choirs (VINTERSORG, FISSION)

Lars A. Nedland – Keys, Clean Vocals & Choirs (SOLEFALD, ex-CARPATHIAN FORST)

Jens F. Ryland – Lead Guitars (ICS VORTEX)

ICS Vortex – Bass, Clean Vocals & Choirs (ex-DIMMU BORGIR, ARCTURUS, ICS Vortex)

Drums and percussion on Urd were performed by David Kinkade (SOULFLY, ex-MALEVOLENT CREATION).

Borknagar live 2012:

April

4-7 - Oslo, Norway – Inferno Festival

13-14 - Lichtenfels, Germany – Ragnarök Festival

More dates will be announced soon.