Øystein Garnes Brun (born 14 April 1975) is a Norwegian guitarist who is a member of the

progressive metal Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven sound of the former with t ...

band Borknagar. He is the only permanent member of the group and wrote the majority of their songs. Brun is noted for having many albums already written ahead of time.

Career

After releasing two full-length albums with the

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

band Molested, Brun grew tired of playing death metal, and decided to form a more melodic metal band, inspired by the burgeoning black metal scene. He wrote a group of songs which would eventually become the first songs by Borknagar.

Borknagar

Brun gathered a cast of musicians who were well known in the black metal scene including

Infernus Roger Tiegs (born 18 June 1972), better known by his stage name Infernus, is a Norwegian black metal musician and Satanist. He is the sole founding member and chief ideologist of the black metal band Gorgoroth, formed in 1992, in addition to b ...

Gorgoroth Gorgoroth is a Norwegian black metal band based in Bergen. It was formed in 1992 by guitarist Infernus, who is the sole original member remaining, and has released nine studio albums. Gorgoroth are a Satanism, Satanic band and have drawn contro ...

, Erik Brødreskift of

Immortal Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Film * ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film * ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film '' The Wisdom of ...

and

Ivar Bjørnson Ivar Skontorp Peersen, best known by his stage name Ivar Bjørnson (born 27 November 1977), is a Norwegian musician and composer. He is a founding member and the main songwriter of the extreme metal band Enslaved, and has previously been a memb ...

of Enslaved, and

Kristoffer Rygg Kristoffer Rygg (born 9 September 1976), also known as Garm, Trickster G. Rex and God Head, is a Norwegian vocalist, musician and producer known primarily for his work with Ulver, Arcturus, and Borknagar. Biography Kristoffer Rygg was born ...

Ulver Ulver (Norwegian for "wolves") is a Norwegian Experimental electronic music, experimental electronica band founded in 1993, by vocalist Kristoffer Rygg. Their early works, such as debut album ''Bergtatt – Et eeventyr i 5 capitler, Bergtatt'', ...

, Head Control System, and

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. The stature of these musicians caused Malicious Records to award the band with a contract without even hearing them. After the release of their debut album, the band was signed to

Century Media A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A ...

, where they remained until 2006. In 2007, they had a three album contract with Indie Recordings, which was terminated in 2011. The band resigned to Century Media shortly after. Through the years, the personnel has changed, but the sound is influenced mainly by Brun, so the style of music has been consistent despite a revolving lineup.

Cronian

In 2004, Brun and

Andreas Hedlund Andreas Hedlund (born 17 September 1973), better known by his stage names Vintersorg and Mr. V, is a Swedish vocalist and multi-instrumentalist who has played in several heavy metal bands. Biography Hedlund's musical career came to be at or ar ...

founded Cronian, an epic sounding heavy metal band which had been in planning stages since before Hedlund had joined Borknagar. Their debut album

Terra Terra may often refer to: * Terra (mythology), primeval Roman goddess * An alternate name for planet Earth, as well as the Latin name for the planet Terra may also refer to: Geography Astronomy * Terra (satellite), a multi-national NASA scient ...

was produced by

Dan Swanö Dan-Erland Swanö (born 10 March 1973), also known as Dan "The Man" Swanö, is a Swedish musician and record producer who is currently the vocalist, guitarist, ex-bassist and ex-drummer for the band Nightingale, lately vocalist, keyboardist and ...

and released in 2006 on

. allmusic ((( Cronian > Overview )))/ref>

Discography

With Molested

*''Blod Draum'' (1995) *''Stormvold'' (EP) (1997)

With Borknagar

*'' Borknagar'' (1996, Malicious Records, Century Black) *'' The Olden Domain'' (1997, Century Black) *'' The Archaic Course'' (1998, Century Media Records) *'' Quintessence'' (2000, Century Media Records) *''

Empiricism In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological view which holds that true knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience and empirical evidence. It is one of several competing views within epistemology, along ...

'' (2001, Century Media Records) *''

Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

'' (2004, Century Media Records) *''

Origin Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...

'' (2006, Century Media Records) *'' Urd'' (2012, Century Media) *'' Winter Thrice'' (2016, Century Media) *''

True North True north is the direction along Earth's surface towards the place where the imaginary rotational axis of the Earth intersects the surface of the Earth on its Northern Hemisphere, northern half, the True North Pole. True south is the direction ...

'' (2019, Century Media) *'' Fall'' (2024, Century Media)

With Cronian

*''

'' (2006) *''Enterprise'' (2008) *''Erathems'' (2013)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brun, Oystein 1975 births Living people 21st-century Norwegian guitarists 21st-century Norwegian male singers 21st-century Norwegian singers Norwegian black metal musicians Norwegian heavy metal guitarists Norwegian heavy metal singers Norwegian rock guitarists Norwegian rock singers English-language singers from Norway Borknagar members Place of birth missing (living people)