Could Born Of Osiris be one of the best tech-metal bands around? It’s possible; there weren’t all that many good ones to begin with. Though, even that claim may be rushing towards its expiration date, as this looks like their final album with guitarist / arguable signature member Lee McKinney. Apparently, he’s left to focus on his project with disgraced ex-Dance Gavin Dance singer Tilian Pearson, which is…definitely a choice that one could make. At this precise moment in time, though? Competition is hardly beating down the door. Architects are past it; Northlane drop too infrequently; and barely any of the others have ever sustainably proven to steal a scene. Thus, the honour might go to Born Of Osiris for clinging onto ‘good enough’ before an upcoming reshuffle could throw it up in the air again. Stellar stuff, this scene…
The bright side is that there isn’t too much cause for concern just yet. McKinney might have a standout presence on this album, but they’re in bursts, rather than as a load-bearing element that everything collapses without. To this day, the reputation of djent and tech-metal as a soulless guitar showcase that can’t be bothered to translate that into real songs hasn’t gone away, so it’s nice to see Born Of Osiris continuing on the contrary. They do feel like a proper band on Through Shadows, with songs and everything! It might sound stupid to say, but the fact there’s even a fleeting chance you’ll remember some of this is, on its own, enough to put them in much better stead.
The flaws haven’t been scrubbed, however, such is the native programming of all that clunks off the tech-metal production line. There has to be some normalcy withheld, which means that when the bricked-out, stop-start chugs come in (most noteworthy on The War That You Are), you’ll feel yourself switching off. It’s lucky they aren’t more plentiful, otherwise Through Shadows would become a much greater chore to get through. This is already a hefty album; it doesn’t need the threat of that taking a downturn.
Thankfully (and, let’s be honest, paradoxically), it’s Born Of Osiris’ becoming a metalcore band that does the most good for Through Shadows. Hooks are more prominent, or can at least facilitate a somewhat tighter, more streamlined feel. Seppuku is a strong showcase of that to open, no doubt because the zipping synths and digitised, cyberpunk filter are cribbing liberally from Bring Me The Horizon. Later on, Activated finds some organic heat in its out-of-nowhere saxophone swirls, and its synth-and-drum surge and guest spot from Underøath’s Spencer Chamberlain makes for one of the album’s more immediately rousing tracks. On the whole, Through Shadows definitely skews closer to the first example—dense, heavily produced, robotic by choice, and capable of mining a solid amount from that.
If Born Of Osiris were a weaker band, then Through Shadows wouldn’t feel quite as packed as it does. The illusion of that would be there, clanking and beeping thanks to the prospect of nebulous ‘stuff’, but there’s more going on here. Not a lot, though there doesn’t have to be. Paying homage to nu-metal on Inverno and Torchbearer avoids overbearing when it’s done through interesting flecks that contribute to a satisfying whole. (The latter, despite its Architects-ass name, is way more powerful than what they’ve been putting their name to lately.) ‘Flavour’ might be a reach, but the variety of electronics and bass tones—combined with how rock-solid and locked-in on good production Born Of Osiris are—make this feel more dynamic than it otherwise might.
Not always, which is where the attempts at pushing the boat out further than prescribed land. Again, these are small details, specifically to toe the line between broaching fresher sounds and not disrupting established form, but they don’t exactly slip under the radar. For a band called Born Of Osiris, maybe it’d behoove to not present your Egyptian leanings as such ineffectual window-dressing as on A Mind Short Circuiting and Transcendence. It’s even worse when they play with choral vocals, which are universally gutless and worlds removed from their intended opulence. Cleans in general aren’t handled the best with some severe underpowering (see the title track and Dark Fable for the brunt of it), yet Blackwater’s grand display of a single woman repeatedly delivering a single octave has that bar in freefall.
Blackwater as a whole, though, deserves all the recognition it can get, as this harmonious, reverberating take on progressive metal—not tech-metal—that’s a perfect vibe for an album desperate to be a huge event. Say what you like about the scene that Born Of Osiris find themselves in, but effort on its own can goes a long way. It’s a subtly impressive demonstration on Through Shadows, paying off through how effective the whole package is. It definitely feels like more than your average tech-metal slab, as a product of small elements and affects working in unison to define it. Born Of Osiris have often been good at getting that running, and here, it’s no exception.
So, is that the case-closing signifier of tech-metal’s best band? Maybe; the work on show might be enough to seal it.
For fans of: Bring Me The Horizon, Northlane, Veil Of Maya
‘Through Shadows’ by Born Of Osiris is released on 11th July on Sumerian Records.
Words by Luke Nuttall
