Born of Osiris - The Discovery Review

Born of Osiris was one of the first bands to break away from the deathcore craze in favor of technically-infused death metal. The Illinois-based band had an edge over most of their contemporaries in this endeavor, though. As one of the only deathcore bands at the time to use keyboards, Born of Osiris easily transitioned out of their deathcore roots after their 2007 EP, The New Reign. Just in time for their first full-length album, 2009’s A Higher Place, the group reconstructed their sound on their own terms and made a huge impact, landing at number 73 on the Billboard 200 charts in its first week. This established Born of Osiris as a heavyweight group in the world of metal and also paved the way for their second album. The Discovery is a solid record with a number of unexpected twists and turns during its nearly-53 minute run-time.


Like many of their peers, Born of Osiris has maintained some of its deathcore tendencies, even after the genre adjustment. However, in the midst of the breakdowns and guttural vocals, there are also plenty of surprising melodic and progressive inclusions to balance things out. The soloing by guitarists Lee McKinney and Jason Richardson is of particular significance, showing plenty of guitar prowess and finesse throughout the album. Keyboardist Joe Buras also makes his presence felt more on this album than on anything else Born of Osiris has ever released. Whether it’s the electronica-inspired outro on “Devastate”, the bell chimes on “Two Worlds of Design”, or the backing symphonics on “Shaping the Masterpiece”, keyboards are more than just another part of the rhythm section on The Discovery. The clean-sung interlude “A Solution” is perhaps the biggest shock on the album, as Born of Osiris has never shown any inclination for clean singing on previous albums....full text I didn’t expect to be writing this review today. I’ve got two important exams tomorrow, and a hell of a lot of college work to be getting on with. Add to that the fact that I torrented this album last night more as a last resort than anything else, expecting it to be a quick disappoint-and-delete job. Instead I ended up purchasing the whole album off Amazon this morning before college, and I’ve literally just ordered a shirt; that’s well over £30 including shipping from America.

Forget the Born of Osiris you know. They started out playing their own brand of technical deathcore notable for melodic keyboard interludes - a breath of fresh air but nothing spectacular, especially in terms of musicmanship. Fan or not, there’s no denying that the chugging breakdowns which probably constitute half of their 20-minute debut album The New Reign require very little talent. The production was below par, and despite occasional flairs of originality, it quickly grew old for me.

They made the transition on their second album, A Higher Place, to full-on harmonic minor metal, but seemed to lose themselves along the way. Gone were the breakdowns, but gone also were the innovative flairs that attracted me to them in the first place, that kept me listening through all that drop C chug. It seemed to be a sterile, playing-it-safe release, and it came as a huge disappointment to most of their fans....full text Breakdown-overloaded metalcore has saturated the heavy-metal market in recent years, and new releases increasingly sound like mundane imitations of other records. To make something memorable in 2011, a band must go beyond the same sound everyone else is producing—or at least do it much better.

Illinois tech-deathcore sextet Born of Osiris tries to do both on their latest record, The Discovery, and end up pulling the mission off with considerable success. Their third full-length finds the band sharpening its virtuosic skills and adding more melody in guitar riffs and keyboard fills. The synthesis of technical breakdowns, eerie synth noises, shredding solos, and stuttering guitar riffs make for some really kickass music.

On “Follow the Signs,” a creepy keyboard melody is played over a pummeling breakdown, and the song ends with a haunting guitar solo vaguely reminiscent of Alex Skolnick’s work. Another standout is “Recreate,” which features transitions from Meshuggah-esque heaviness to fresh guitar harmonies. The album ends with “Behold,” a track that captures the musicians’ impressive technicality and displays their standout ability to reign it in enough to produce a catchy, as well as flashy, song....full text