Born of Osiris - The Discovery (2011)Release ID: 5454
Being a fan of progressive metal was a incredibly weird time during the early 2010s. As djent was beginning to be popularized by bands like Animals As Leaders, After the Burial, and Born of Osiris, I found a lot of it to be less engaging. On one hand, you ended up with highly technical music that lacked memorable structures like hooks and melody, and on the other was something that was closer resembling metalcore/deathcore, which... lacked memorable structures like hooks and melody.
I became aware of this new wave of progressive djent in 2010 after discovering what was, for the time, my new favourite band: Periphery. The key here is the record label; Sumerian Records were about to hit on all cylinders to fire out as many metalcore/deathcore and progressive djent bands that they could in a relatively short period of time. Born of Osiris had already established themselves with The New Reign and were about to take the next step in making their sound more progressive. And the end result was something of value, but could have been refined.
For starters, Born of Osiris are clearly influencing Rings of Saturn with some of the technical passages complimented by dissonant guitar leads with pinch harmonics, as well as the spatial passages on songs like "Singularity". As a result, this brand of deathcore is just as technically proficient as the kind of tech-death giants that Rings of Saturn are, while the breakdown passages split the difference between just regular metalcore breakdowns, and the sort of tonal dissonance that one expects from deathcore. Personally, I prefer the passages in which the breakdowns are complimented by some sort of synth lead that is overlaid on top of the metalcore breakdown, which is reminiscent of a band like August Burns Red. However, most of the time, the breakdown is the feature and while they can be quite heavy, they lack substance beyond "breakdown".
As I said before, the songwriting is very reminiscent of early Rings of Saturn with the technical proficiency in the guitars (as well as some percussion). And while the mixing is quite nice, it does fall into many of the same traps that Sumerian albums continuously fell into during the early 2010s. Most notably, the overabundance of guitar in the mix absolutely diminishes the bass, with the lone exception being the mini solo break on the closer "Behold". And while I feel it would be stupid to mention such a thing, given this is what all of this kind of metalcore sounds like, I cannot help but feel let down when the guitar breakdowns are a lot less bass-y than you would expect.
It all makes for a messy album that still has some good moments, but are bogged down by bad production, and my general displeasure for this type of metalcore music. The album runs far too long and does not have nearly enough memorable moments throughout the track listing to make The Discovery anything more than a blip of the radar. It's influence would be significant however, so I can at least be thankful for that.
I came kinda late to the deathcore subgenre. It wasn’t really a thing during my 1980’s/90’s heyday & would only start to develop as I found myself losing interest in the scene & defecting to electronic music around 1998/99. The first I heard of it wasn’t until my return to metal in 2009 & I have to admit that I was more open to it than most extreme metal fans at the time. Despite the generic elements at play on most releases, I found it hard not to enjoy the high-quality musicianship & clear & precise production jobs &, when you added in the progressive approach of some of the more expansive outfits, I found myself kinda digging it. Not to the same extent as your more traditional death metal mind you, but enjoyment was had nonetheless. Fast forward another twelve or so years & you’ll find that not a lot has changed for me in this regard. I don’t find myself racing out to track down the latest deathcore release but, when the opportunity arises, I’m up for the task & can see the merit when the subgenre is done well (as it is here).
My first experience with Chicago-based six-piece Born Of Osiris wouldn’t come until shortly after the 2011 release of this album “The Discovery” which was the band’s third full-length & is generally regarded as the pinnacle of the band’s career to date as far as I can tell. And it’s not very hard to see why either to tell you the truth because this is one outstandingly well composed & executed piece of deathly metalcore with a penchant for the more spacey & progressive end of extreme art. I wouldn’t say that it ever transcends the subgenre because all of the signature deathcore elements are at play for most of the album but there’s been a strong push for expansion & development of that sound too. For this reason, I find “The Discovery” to stretch the boundaries of my taste palate a little further than I’m entirely comfortable with but to somehow manage to keep from ever bursting out. Let’s start with the positives because there are plenty for your more open-minded metalhead to enjoy.
As is so commonly the case with US deathcore outfits, Born Of Osiris are a shit-hot group of musicians. I mean these guys can all really shred like bastards & their performances here are outstanding. They occasionally hint at crossing over into self-indulgence but I think they actually do a really great job of reining themselves in just before that occurs. Guitarists Lee McKinney & Jason Richardson are particularly skilled & show themselves to not only have the chops to match most high class shredders on the market today but also to have an impressive sense of exotic melody with some of the lead work pushing Born Of Osiris out further into progressive metal territory than they already were. In fact, I’d be very surprised if the boys haven’t been influenced by early Cynic because they’ve taken a similar approach to much of the melodic content & this is a real feather in their cap as I love a more expansive & exploratory style of guitar solo. Drummer Cameron Losch proves himself to be extremely capable with his powerful & high-precision double-kick work keeping the band sounding punchy & tight at all times. The continued use of spacey synthesizers from full-time keyboardist Joe Buras is also worth mentioning as Joe’s contribution sees “The Discovery” sporting somewhat of a sci-fi atmosphere & his short interlude pieces serve to break the album up really well without ever sacrificing on its overall heaviness. In saying that, I do think that the occasional electronic beat could be hard to stomach for some of the more traditional members of the metal audience & in truth I don’t think they add a lot to the album. You won’t be able to fault the production job as “The Discovery” ticks all of the boxes in that regard. If anything, you may be tempted to say that it’s over-produced however I think that would be a harsh assessment as I think the result generally highlights the best elements of Born Of Osiris’ sound.
Now for the album’s challenges & we’ll start with the djent component. As with many of the more progressive deathcore outfits, there’s very little doubt that Born Of Osiris have been influenced by Meshuggah or bands that Meshuggah have influenced. Now that’s not a bad thing in itself because I fucking love Meshuggah as they really are in a league of their own when it comes to the whole djent thing. It’s just that a lot of the band’s they’ve influenced do sound very samey due to the continued use of high-precision & purely rhythmic off-beat single-note riffs & you get a whole shit-tonne of those here. Thankfully they’ve been filed down to the sharpest point imaginable so as to ensure that they hit as hard as possible but they still do sound pretty generic at times. As do the trademark deathcore breakdowns which still permeate “The Discovery”. The band try to disguise them through the use of progressive colouring & they’ve had a reasonable amount of success to be fair but I still think I could generally do without them. And lastly, the most challenging part of the album for me is the dual vocal delivery which is over-used & continuously thrust down the listeners throat. As far as I can tell, front man Ronnie Canizaro employs the deep guttural death growls while keyboardist Joe Buras regularly chimes in with silly metalcore screams in support. These vocal lines have been brought right to the front of the mix & are used so consistently that they can sound fairly monotonous a while. To be fair, I don’t really like that vocal style to begin with but this is more of a comment on the overall genre than it is about Born Of Osiris in general.
Regardless of these flaws, I can’t really fault the tracklisting which includes fifteen tracks ranging from good to excellent. Unsurprisingly, it’s the more deathly tracks that float my boat the most along with the synth-driven interludes which are particularly well done. It’s kinda difficult to explain but, even though I struggle with some of the elements I mentioned above, the overall class of Born Of Osiris somehow seems to transcend my misgivings & sees me throwing myself in head first after the first few tracks. I guess I’m just a sucker for well-produced & precisely executed extreme metal so I can’t help but see through the more generic elements so that I can grab on to the more expansive ones & this sees me finding it very hard to be too critical of Born Of Osiris who are unquestionably at the peak of their subgenre. I mean if you like high quality US deathcore then I can’t see that you won’t love “The Discovery” because it ticks all of the boxes while adding in some of its own for good measure & in doing so has created the strongest & most interesting example of the djenty progressive deathcore sound that I’ve ever experienced.
For fans of After The Burial, Veil Of Maya & Within The Ruins.
Throughout their previous two releases, Born of Osiris really made a quick evolution through their sound. The New Reign is an over 20 minute EP with 8 short songs filled with fast technical breakdowns and drum beats, and short synth melodies. A Higher Place had a different sound compared to that EP, with atmospheric melodies, crushing vocals, driving drums, and not as many groovy breakdowns.
Their true sound would be discovered with The Discovery, where everything comes full circle! The 15 songs here all have the best aspects that Born Of Osiris had in both their previous albums, plus improved structure. The album's lead guitarist Jason Richardson (Chelsea Grin, recently All That Remains) has awesome talent not to be ignored.
Richardson's talent is more obvious in the opening song, "Follow the Signs". That song and "Singularity" are two of the best songs of the album and a killer album opening with strong soaring melodies through busy original compositions. "Ascension" is another original composition with bouncy djent breakdowns. "Devastate" has the same vein as the first two tracks, but in the second half of this song, vocalist Ronnie Canizaro screams "SYSTEM FAILURE!" and the song crashes into an intense breakdown with Canizaro in a screaming duel with Joe Buras, and then a strange electronica-inspired outro.
The guitar bit around the 30-second mark of "Recreate" really shows what guitarist Lee McKinney can do. "Two Worlds of Design" is OK, but what's more notable here is the bell chimes heard throughout its second half. Then it segues to "A Solution", a synth interlude known for having the band's first ever prominent clean vocals sung by Buras. "Shaping the Masterpiece" sounds like kind of a masterpiece with backing symphonic keyboards. "Dissimulation" is more chaotic with one of the best guitar solos on the album. Its song name is sort of a foreshadowing contrast to the band's newest album The Simulation. "Automatic Motion" once again has a bouncy breakdown, here with more melodic lead guitar and synth that make the breakdown more balanced.
"The Omniscient" is an electropop-like ambient interlude. While all the songs are extremely good, "Last Straw" is probably the weakest point of the album. Not saying it has no strength, it's just not as much as the other songs. The clean vocal effects in "Regenerate" are a little distracting, but still a well-focused song nonetheless. That song has a earth-shaking technical breakdown right before an uplifting synth outro. "XIV" is a suspenseful interlude to keep you up for what's next. Behold, the longest song by the band (almost 6 minutes) and one of the best, "Behold"! It has the best solos of the album, and towards the end, a KILLER breakdown before the electronic outro.
While Born of Osiris is not totally my favorite band in my playlist while still remaining being awesome, it's definitely one of the best djent/deathcore releases I've ever heard, a little better than Veil of Maya's ID, and on the same level as the first Periphery album and other Sumerian Records albums. There are many breakdowns, fast sweeping, and typical deathcore vocals. So if you can't handle that heat, stay out of the djent kitchen. But listen first, judge later. You might just find a true discovery in your music taste!
Favorites: "Follow The Signs", "Singularity", "Recreate", "Behold"
