Born of Osiris: Faith And The Final Frontier

There are certain bands that are content to stick to their tried-and-true. To appease their loyal fanbase and effectively recycle what has made them successful to this point. This is all well and good, but in the modern age people are less easily impressed and the amount of attention-span of most is measurable in nanoseconds. This is where bands such as BORN OF OSIRIS thrive. They refuse to stand still and are constantly trying to push their musical boundaries outwards, exploring new horizons and taking plenty of risks along the way.

BORN OF OSIRIS have made many decisions throughout their career that have split their fanbase at certain times. Some of paid off and some have not but as guitarist and one of the principal songwriters for the band Lee McKinney explains it is not all for the sake of cashing in on what is popular at the time. “We’ve never been the band to do this for the money,” Lee explains. “We feel as though people would see right through that at this point, we feel like we are hitting the sound that our fans want to hear.”

When the band recorded 2019’s The Simulation the number of songs they had at the time was almost double what was eventually included into the album. However, rather than overwhelm their listeners in one double album the band decided to take those ideas, sit on them for a little while and create their latest outing Angel Or Alien. Fourteen songs of expansive and thoroughly impressive progressive metal music that show just how well the band grown as songwriters and musicians along the way.

Perhaps one of the greatest revelations of the past few years for the band has been the inclusion of Nick Rossi. Originally, he joined the band to fill in on bass duties but has since made the switch to guitars and has been instrumental in forging the bands sound for this release. “He’s the perfect fit,” muses McKinney. “Not only is he an incredibly gifted songwriter, but he can shred with the best. Not only that, but we also play together in our other band IN MOTIVE and he is the only other guitarist that I feel I can get in a room with and create a song from the ground up.” When you consider that McKinney has been the only full-time guitarist in the band since 2007 it really shows just how big of a deal it is for him to have found his instrumental counterpart.

The new material is a testament to the way the band has grown both musically and artistically. One such example of this is the calibre of music videos that they have put out prior to the album’s release, particularly for the title track. The video shows the band playing out in the desert with a wealth of visual effects, actors and impressive camera work and production to create a cinematic feast for the eyes. “We’ve done the green screen thing before, and it didn’t really turn out the way that we would’ve wanted,” elaborates Lee. “Everything this time was real. We walked out into the desert in east Texas, which despite appearances was absolutely freezing and we were sinking into the sand. We had our amps out to show our endorsements some love, and we were trying to stop them sinking in the sand, along with the drum kit!”

All the effort and graft was more than worth it though as the product is something above and beyond what we have seen from BORN OF OSIRIS as far as videos go and drives home the whole feel of Angel Or Alien and that is that the weight or the music and the sense of artistic freedom is grander than ever.

Having taken their music down plenty of different avenues since their formation from the ludicrously heavy The New Reign and A Higher Place, via the shreddy and almost over the top guitar heavy The Discovery through the more keyboard driven Tomorrow We Die Alive which saw the intricacy of the stringed instruments take a back seat which divided their fanbase at the time. The following two releases Soul Sphere and The Simulation would be a step back towards their more virtuosic and sonically scathing roots. All these different chapters of the BORN OF OSIRIS story have led them to this point, their sixth full-length album and their first as this new incarnation.

The focus and creativity has never been higher, and the result is arguably the album of the band’s career to date. “If you have been a fan of any of the band’s output to date then there is something for you on this new record. We feel like this is the best version of ourselves we can be and feel like we’ve found our groove,” concludes McKinney. Frankly, it could not be put any better than that. It has not been a meteoric ride for BORN OF OSIRIS. The band have toiled, experimented and worked harder than most to get to where they are now and are looking stronger than ever and armed with this collection of songs it looks like the world is at their feet and rightly so.

Angel Or Alien is out now via Sumerian Records.

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