BORKNAGAR: South American Tour Canceled

BORKNAGAR's previously announced South American tour has been canceled.

Commented BORKNAGAR mainman Øystein G. Brun: "Sometimes reality bites and it is with a graven heart we have to inform you all that we are forced to pull the plug on the South American tour in September. At this point, too many of the concerts have been canceled by the local promoters (due to local issues beyond our control) and in spite of a desperate attempt to find new venues, we have not been able to get the puzzle together without losing shitloads of money. Parallel to this, our agent for this tour in South America has not provided us with the necessary visas, not even the plane tickets. So there is nothing more we can do at this point and we are forced to pull the plug now in order to avoid further and major expenses that leads to nothing. On our end, we have done all we can to make this happened. David [Kinkade, drums] has come over from U.S. for rehearsals, we have worked out and started rehearsing the set, equipment has been shipped from our endorsement partners, prepared tour-shirt design and so on — we have even gotten the necessary vaccines for us going to South America. We had such high hopes for this tour, it would indeed have been a very special event for us, our fans and friends in South America. I can assure you that we have never before fought this hard to get a tour happening; this time we lost the fight and we are sorry!"

BORKNAGAR's lineup for the South American tour was supposed to be as follows:

Øystein G. Brun (guitar)
ICS Vortex (vocals, bass)
Jens F. Ryland (guitar)
Lars A. Nedland (keyboards, backing vocals)
David Kinkade (drums)

BORKNAGAR's new album, "Universal", sold around 500 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 116 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

"Universal" was released on February 22 in Europe and March 2 in North America through Indie Recordings. The effort was made available in four different formats: regular jewelcase CD, limited digipack (including bonus disc),CD box with extras and gatefold LP with double vinyl.

An e-card for the effort can be accessed at this location.

"Universal" was recorded and mixed at Toproom Studio in Lunner, Norway, with the bandmembers themselves handling the production duties.

Regarding the album title, Brun said, "'Universal' is the title that shines through and mirrors the essence of the album. 'Universal' is a title that is broad enough and huge enough to project the giant character of this album, both musically and lyrically."