Cronian (Norway) for Prog or Experimental Metal

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"Erathems is the third full length album from Cronian, which is the side project of Borknagar members Øystein G. Brun and Andreas Hedlund (better known as Vintersorg). Formed in 2005, the band serves as an outlet for ideas that the duo felt weren’t entirely fitting for their output in Borknagar; ideas that were more experimental in nature. The band’s first two albums, Terra and Enterprise, received mixed reviews: those who loved them referred to the band’s strong connections to the sounds of Borknagar and Vintersorg’s solo work and those who loathed the albums referred to similarities to the sounds of Borknagar and Vintersorg’s solo work. That was intentionally laid on a little thick, if you couldn’t tell: of course there are going to be similarities to their other output.

While Cronian’s music inherently shares many similarities to Borknagar, it’s the differences that give Erathems its charm. While you still get Vintersorg’s trademark clean vocals and snarled growls as well as tons of Brun’s melodic yet blackened riffing, it’s taken through a more cinematic, atmospheric and progressive lens. Yes, Borknagar’s recent output does have a lot of progressive tendencies, but Cronian’s progressive side far exceeds what Borknagar has reached towards. There are full, lush keyboard soundscapes mixed with melodic guitar passages next to cold, blackened riffs and blasting drums, but always with an air of spacey progressiveness. I actually feel likeErathems takes more cues from the Empiricism era of Borknagar than the previous two Cronian albums, but we’ll dig a little further into why. The previous two Cronian albums had a very icy and frostbitten feel to them, as if the arctic circle was reaching its cold grip through your speakers, while Erathems drops the hoar frost in favor of more cosmic, epic feel. “Cold Wave Eruption” starts off the album in fine form, with a riff that would pass on any of Borknagar’s early albums (The Archaic Course in particular) while the keys showcase a cinematic backdrop and Vintersorg twists between catchy clean vocalization and snarling growls.

Tracks like “Blackwater Horizon” and “Ecocracy” sound like they were cut from the same cloth as Empricism, as the overarching keyboard melodies merge with restrained guitar chords while Vintersorg belts out some fine vocal harmonies in his trademark avant-garde delivery. These tracks showcase not only the heavier side of Cronian, as there are some blackened guitar riffs and high speed programmed drums, but it also showcases the pure catchiness of all of the elements combined. The riff during “Ecocracy” is especially catchy and showcases Brun’s ability to craft some solid, twisting riffs. It’s moments like this when the Borknagar-isms are most prevalent. I know, I know I keep referring Cronian’s sound to Borknagar, but you can’t really consider yourself a full fledged metal head if you’ve never listened to them. There are moments of utter quietude here, too. Take a track like “Moments and Monuments” for example, as it’s synthesized strings and airy keyboards take charge, without a guitar riff in sight. It’s a spacey, cinematic track wouldn’t sound out of place as movie soundtrack, as the only accent to the keys are Vintersorg’s clean vocals, which sound almost like an icy howl here. There’s enough varied tempos and time changes to keep things interesting. It doesn’t even get boring during the more quiet, melodic segments. 
The drums, although programmed, are decent enough to not draw any complaints, but the music could be aided tremendously by placing a live drummer in the mix. I understand that this is Brun and Hedlund’s baby, but creative control doesn’t have to be sacrificed by using a session drummer. I could see the simplistic beat during the middle of “Blackwater Horizon” being improved substantial with a little flair in the drumming department. While Erathemsreally does sound like the continuation of Empiricism, I don’t see that as a drawback, as Empiricism remains my favorite Borknagar album to date. The more spacey, atmospheric feel of this album mixed with the progressive nature of the music makes for a unique listen that remains nostalgic. The production here is crystal clear, with the guitar riffs having a nice crunch and the vocals and keyboards taking center stage.
If you dig Vintersorg and Borknagar, you absolutely cannot go wrong with Cronian’s Erathems. It showcases progressive song structures, atmospheric and cinematic keyboards, solid riffs and one of Vintersorg’s best vocal performances of his career. This is a solid album that will suffice to hold me over between now and and the next Borknagar and Vintersrog albums. The special edition comes with a bonus track in the form of “Full Moon Inferno” that I recommend you track down." 
Author: Shawn Miller

"Why would the main members of viking/progressive outfits Borknagar and Vintersorg create yet another band with some glaring similarities in both sound and themes with their main bands? After all, there have been really good releases from both, 2012 saw the records Urd and Orkan getting an avalanche of positive reviews. And both projects seem to have really strong ideas already in place for their next outings. Should they avoid the risk of getting too spread and creatively thin?
Both Andreas “Vintersorg/Mr. V” Hedlund and Øystein Brun don’t seem to be the conventional no-risk taking kind, and even though it’s clearly apparent after the first few seconds into Erathems that we are hearing an album from these two virtuosos, they manage to make an entire album of an experimental nature, taking their known strengths and adding some twists that hark back to Vertebrae era Enslaved at times, and some Arcturus avant-garde sound at others.
Hedlund is at his prime in the vocal department, and he goes almost seamlessly from claw-hand inducing shrieks to really melodious chorus that mix really well with the more conventional song structures, that nevertheless induce many good headbanging moments thorough the entire listen. Interesting rhythm changes and complexity is not absent, even some really scorching blast-beats make brief appearances, making really obvious this is not your usual progressive metal release.
Instrumentally, Erathems gets a good mix of orchestration coming from deftly programmed keyboards that echo theremin-like sounds in opener Cold Wave Eruptions or some oriental-influenced instrumentation in Ecocracy. Drums and other more conventional orchestral sounds also come from these synthesizers, that are aptly mixed with a decent production job (to my ears at least). Even if the synths and programmed drums are somewhat obvious, it’s still impressive how well they made it work in the whole album, being just a two man job. Of course, the strings are great with both Mr. V and Brun working in the guitars, with catchy riffs and solos being the really strong foundations of every song. Mr. V also plays the bass, that I must commend how well it was treated by the production, sounding really clear all around.
Lyrically, nature and ecology seem to be the theme of the record, with good thought-inducing verses, that go very well with the more symphonic sound, compared to their other outfits. It is a concept treated more straightforward than usual, being that Borknagar seems to take a more primordial approach and Vintersorg is really set into the elemental plot that will continue in his next productions. And even when there are clear glimpses of both styles still, their dominion of the language helps them to avoid appear to be out of fresh ideas.
A completely enjoyable record released in early November, Erathems was strangely and almost entirely ignored by most blogs and year end lists. With most blogs already way into assembling their lists, perhaps the release schedule hurt this record more than it should. It was just a few days ago when by brief mention I was made aware of it. Blown away when I heard the Bandcamp stream, it quickly became a favorite and I urge you to give it a listen. Even if you’re not a Borknagar nor Vintersorg fan, I’m sure you will find plenty to like in this Cronian release."  http://www.metalvortex.net/blog/2014/01/09/review-cronian-erathems/

 http://cronian.bandcamp.com/

Compact Disc (CD)
CRONIAN, the collaboration between Scandinavian metal visionaries Andreas Hedlund (VINTERSORG) and Øystein Brun (BORKNAGAR), return with 'Erathems'; its first new record in over five years. A meticulously arranged and orchestrated album from start-to-finish, 'Erathems' symphonic, melody-laden metal is nothing short of exhilarating. 'Erathems' is truly progressive, avant-garde heavy metal art.
personnel: 
Vintersorg (Bass, Keyboards, Programming, Vocals) and  Øystein Garnes Brun (Guitars, Keyboards, Programming)
released 07 November 2013 

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Edited by Svetonio - July 12 2014 at 14:41