By Nicholas Jason Lopez
One challenge that faced Born Of Osiris headed into their latest Sumerian Records release The Simulation was the departure of longtime bassist David Da Rocha.
New bassist Nick Rossi joins the current lineup of Ronnie Canizaro (lead vocals), Lee McKinney (guitarist), Cameron Losch (drummer) and Joe Buras (keyboardist/vocalist) and fans wouldn’t have to hang around to see how he settled in.
The American progressive metalcore quintet, formed in 2003 from the Chicago suburbs of Illinois, have played with bands like Hatebreed, August Burns Red and The Devil Wears Prada, to name a few. It’s easy to see how they can stand beside those bands, but with a unique sound amassed through synthesizers, heavy breakdowns and gang vocals, they also stand out.
“Silence The Echo” and “The Accursed” were released last year as respective singles and only at eight tracks, there were six more songs here to get familiar with.
BOO (fun acronym) bring all their artistic weapons into The Simulation and what we get is far from easy listening in sound, but at just over 25 minutes, is still an easy listen. Simplicity is key.
The synthesizer is the main star from the get-go on the overtly melodious “Under The Gun” and between the Chester Bennington-esque screams, to compare this to Linkin Park wouldn’t be unheard of. We’ll stick with this as the star track. Seek it out.
“Cycles Of Tragedy” contains a futuristic “space” feel to it, almost like a soundtrack to a rocket ship battle, with a chorus that’ll get stuck in your head quickly. It’s almost comparable to As I Lay Dying’s “Nothing Left” with a dash of influence from Killswitch Engage thrown in for good fun.
“One Without The Other” proves itself a worthy closer with spontaneous tempo switches, as we go from ballad to breakdown, almost their entire artistic repertoire gets thrown at us.
As of press time, The Simulation sits at #3 on the U.S. Indie Billboard Chart, so their formula is one that works and gets people to want more. That may be why this album leaves us curious for what’s next. The best part – the wait won’t be long. There’s another album due out later this year.
