Review Summary: So do we still need to bow down...?
Born of Osiris is one of the most popular deathcore bands, and for good reason. Their debut The New Reign was a hard hitting release in 2007 and featured some of their most memorable songs. What they did on TNR was lay it all out on the table so that we can see the potential they had. Then A Higher Place came out and they seemed to have dropped a lot of the synth/keys. The whole album mainly revolved around the great riffs Lee wrote, and not much else. Then The Discovery was released and it projected BoO into the higher echelons of metal. The Discovery was chock full of shredding by Jason Richardson, and Joe Buras provided some of the best synth and keys I've ever heard on a metal album.
Some say they'll never be able to write better material than what was on The Discovery. Is that true?
Well here we are 2 years later and Born of Osiris just released their new album, Tomorrow We Die Alive, and its easy to understand the path they chose to take with this release. This album is packed to the gills with great synth. TWDA is what AHP was for its guitar riffs, except its all about the keyboards and synth this time. It all revolves around the uplifting, enlightening, and at times dark and ethereal synth/keys. As for the guitars its easy to tell that Lee just isnt Jason, but he CAN write some really melodic leads and it all fits so well with the entire vibe of the album. A lot of people will complain about how less technical this is, and that its just a bunch of open chord chugging and whatnot but the truth is technicality isnt the only thing that pleases the ear. Sometimes simple riffs can be even more enjoyable that super technicality.
As for the vocals, the only change up is clean vocals. Ronnie has a great mid scream that he utilizes a lot, which I personally like. Joes backing vocals are decent, nothing that stands out. Now the cleans arent you're normal whiney 'core' clean vocals but it almost sounds a bit like This Or The Apocalypse-esque type strained clean singing. And it only appears on Mindful, Exhilarate, and Absolution.
The drums are top-notch. Cameron never disappoints. I find this album very drum oriented along with the synth. There are some great fills scattered throughout. The production can be compared to The Discovery, it just feels a little empty at some points throughout the album.
So is this album better or worse than The Discovery?
Generally it is a step below The Discovery, but it makes for a much more fun listen.
Top Tracks:
Illusionist
Aeon III
Source Field
The Origin
