THE SIMULATION

'Born of Osiris', a band formally started around 2007 is a Tech Metal/Progressive Metalcore band that has had quite a large following with Tech Metal fans. For the first part of the 2000s, the band changed their name a few times, originally named 'Diminished' in 2003, they changed it to 'Your Heart Engraved' in 2004, got signed to Sumerian Records and changed it again to 'Rosecrance' in 2006 and released an EP, and then finally settled on 'Born of Osiris' in 2007. Since then, they have released either a new album or a new EP every 2 or 3 years.

'The Simulation' was released in January of 2019 as a 'mini-album'. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but the total time for the album is around 25 minutes. It has 8 tracks, mostly of them staying around the 3 minute mark. According to tweets from guitarist Lee McKinney, the band plans on releasing a 2nd album later in 2019.

This album introduces the new bassist Nick Rossi, who replaced David Da Rocha in 2018. The original band members that are still active in the band are Ronnie Canizaro doing most of the vocals, clean and dirty, Joe Buras also on vocals and keyboards and Cameron Losch on drums. Lee McKinny is the guitarist and has been since 2007.

The music is pretty much straightforward Tech Metal with the rapid drumming, heavy speed guitar work and mostly screaming/dirty vocals from both vocalists (Joe's vocals are a tad more melodic). The thing that stands out with this band is the frequent and excellent use of keyboards that give the music the progressive metal edge that also gives it some variety. There are even some synth solos as in the instrumental break in 'Under the Gun', but all of the solos breaks are short because all of the songs are commercial length. That is another problem, the band is trying to take the genre to a commercial level, so there isn't any time for real soloing or any extensive progressive exploration.

Probably the most progressive of the tracks is the djent heavy 'Silence the Echo' with its tricky riffs and interesting textures. But it is hard for me to get around the vocals, which is my main issue with the album. But I am being as subjective as I can anyway, and the band is definitely talented, which is the biggest draw for this album since their sound is much more perfected and their playing has improved over the years. Their timing is impeccable and that means a lot in this style of music. But there really is not much of a let up with the dirty vocals and the intensity of the music. Really, the only variety you have here is the inclusion of keyboard led sections, but everything is so rapid fire that its tough to have any huge amount of detectable development.

If you love tech metal, then this is definitely for you. Just be aware that the shortness of the album and the songs lead to not a lot of depth in the music, and not much in the way of dynamics. For these reasons, along with the fact that it is a short album, I give this 3 stars. This style of music is not my preference not because its loud, but because there is little variety between the tracks.

Back in 2011, Born of Osiris performed an admirable feat: they brought a heightened sense of futurism and adventure to a then- stagnant genre. The Discovery was an incredibly welcome breath of fresh air that, unfortunately, will always cast a shadow over the band's subsequent work because of its ambition. Still, they certainly keep trying and trying to recapture the spark that The Discovery gave off and Tomorrow We Die Alive regrettably lost. After all, the concept of taking deathcore into more experimental and adventurous avenues is something that I'll always be behind. By all means, let's take the genre somewhere that forces it outside of its comfort zone! And besides, many of these substantially "djentier" deathcore and modern metalcore bands have usually been the ones who continue to push the boundaries, stemming from artists such as After the Burial and Veil of Maya. Well, luckily, Born of Osiris' new effort The Simulation sees them back in action with their best album since The Discovery. Granted, there's really no more death metal in there. For that matter, many of the songs ride a low groove that sees them moving even further into djent territory than before. So why does The Simulation work so well?

Because it has a runtime of only 25 minutes, which means it has less time to pack in all of its exciting riffs and experimentations before quickly getting the hell out. As such, you're greeted by enough twists and turns to make your head spin. There are a few quiet moments of atmosphere throughout, such as the frantic little symphonic intro of "Disconnectome" or the entirely of interlude "Recursion," but for the most part, these moments of space and contemplation are constantly butting heads with the meaty riffs underneath. By far, the best section to feature this conflict comes from the outro of "Silence of the Echo," whose melodic solo lends the heavy chugs and power chords with a beautifully spacy counterpoint. It actually reminds me of The Faceless' Planetary Duality days, and that's not the only moment that made me think of that album. Every time "Disconnectome" breaks into a melodic solo or goes through a hyper-fast blastbeat section, it really does sound reminiscent of the sci-fi tech-death from that era of The Faceless.

Thankfully, Born of Osiris don't forget their roots on The Simulation, paying plenty of homage to what made them a household name in deathcore while still continuing to experiment with their formula. If I had to pick out the best change this time around, it's that the guitar leads are more fluid than ever. "Analogs in a Cell," "Silence the Echo," "Disconnectome," and "Cycles of Tragedy" are all imbued with fantastic soloing that both technically impresses and constantly shifts between neo-classical and jazz fusion stylings. Also, the variety in the drumming is really impressive from time to time; "Disconnectome" in particular (yes, I know I'm bringing up this song a lot) features a ridiculous amount of tempo shifts, and they're all surprisingly tasteful and natural despite how abrupt they are. The Simulation isn't a perfect album - the slower tempos can become pretty one-note, and the short runtime obviously means some people will want a bit more meat - but it's definitely the most solid album the band have put out since their initial heyday. It's a really fun little adventure that - much like Reign in Blood - is very easy to replay again and again because of its lean length and addictive riffing.