Review Summary: While Born of Osiris loses almost half of their charm on The Discovery, Tomorrow We Die Alive is a rather fun release and doesn't fall short into the realm of its generic counterparts.
Every once in a while, a band tends to show scintillating work, often accompanied by extensive and wildly prevalent musicianship in the form of a record, which is eminent in its perfect sense. Born of Osiris’
The Discovery is a true example of a stellar release. Magnified technicality and musical proficiency lies at the core of
The Discovery which makes it impossible for Born of Osiris’ fans not love it and for the new listeners not to appreciate the hype, though the latter may find difficulties on digesting
The Discovery and any previous Born of Osiris records, especially
The New Reign and
A Higher Place for only a couple of listen.
Now, we’ve come to witness their latest effort,
Tomorrow We Die Alive. Born of Osiris delivers the same technical formula and few musical elements presented from
The Discovery but with the drastic presence of more open string chugging and catchy keyboard breakdowns. From a musical elitist’s point of view, a breakdown is a lazy and unimpressive way to alter the band’s ability to write legitimate material. However, it is not evident in
Tomorrow We Die Alive. The chugging parts suits Born of Osiris’ tracks very well as it fits with the album’s uber-mechanized setting.
Clocking at only 42 minutes,
Tomorrow We Die Alive is a rather skeletal release. It’s not surprising considering the short length of their past works. It starts incredibly strong with “Machine,” which resembles previous efforts made by Born of Osiris but with a more overpowering grooves and well-driven style. “Machine” is the glass cannon of the record as it is geared to represent Born of Osiris’ more approachable, mainstream sound. Though it seems contagious at times, it perfectly delivers the band’s signature storm of riffs and semantical synth progression that beefs up the track. “Divergency” follows up with the same structural set-up, but back with a more surprising electronics and stunning keys. It keeps building up to deliver the intense pseudo-dramatic, dubstep-like breakdown ending. It is a testament of faux-mechanical sound overture that could satisfy synth-oriented audiences.
Abundance of cleans is rampant and it is scattered throughout the record, providing Chester Bennington to Oliver Sykes vocal sound and range. Relatively it adds up to put out enjoyable moments (e.g “Exhilarate”) and bludgeons it up with a transcending instrumental finish. Undeniably,
Tomorrow We Die Alive is a deathcore album, characterized by catchy breakdowns, ill-suiting symphonic vibes and sci-fi synthesizers that serve as a momentarily enjoyable turns and hooks throughout. “Aeon III” and “Illusionist” provides catchy outrageous riffs and vicarious melodies that serves as a radical highlight in a well-timed, stabilized manner.
Album is hammered softly by its flaws. The whole record is plagued with behemoth chugging and ominous, yet forgivable breakdowns, which in turn provides mediocrity at best. Unlike their past efforts, Vocal performance is very poor, noticeably the cleans, (“Absolution” comes to mind) and certainly needs a room for improvement. Lyrics are average and very thematic. As one could say, it is a rather poor reminiscent of
The Discovery and a frozen fruit of their uninspired songwriting.
Strangely as it seems,
Tomorrow We Die Alive has the ability to grow on listener, appreciating its unique qualities and colossal moments to the point of forgetting how inferior it was as compared to their previous release. Surprisingly,
Tomorrow We Die Alive is a very interesting album, setting aside its tolerable blight nonetheless. It is a really enjoyable showcase of what Born of Osiris is doing best for the past few years and this euphoria of an album justifies it, at the very least.
