BORN OF OSIRIS + DISTANT

Illinois progressive metal band Born of Osiris are back with the follow up to the acclaimed The Simulation, a frankly face-melting seventh album called Angel or Alien. All of the ingredients that made previous efforts so intensely enjoyable are present and correct: inhuman vocals, technically dazzling fretwork, intricate musicianship courtesy of the rhythm section, and epic tunes. But there’s an organic evolution taking place — a progressive progression that has seen the Palatine group take things up a level.

“The Simulation was great,” says co-singer and keyboardist Joe Buras. “I feel like it’s a great precursor to our new record. I think it was a stepping stone because we have a new member, guitarist Nick Rossi, which was a huge change for us as far as writing styles and just having some new life, young blood in the band. Ok we had that stepping stone and I feel like it was received well.”

It was. Rossi joined Born of Osiris in 2018 and The Simulation was his debut with the band. The lineup is totally settled on Angel or Alien — the group has never sounded tighter, perfectly highlighted by forthcoming single and album opener “Poster Child.”

“I think we’ve become a little more structured,” says Buras. “We don’t have to be old school and never repeat a part — we can find themes. We’re not trying to play a million notes a minute. We’re finding our space, and exploring. Let’s not just try to be the heaviest and craziest. Let’s try to sonically be just more pleasing, and focus on what pleases us.”

Angel or Alien was wrapped in January, before the pandemic put the world in lockdown, and the fact that the members have home studios meant that they’ve been able to carry on with their work. Nothing was compromised, resulting in an album that the band feels is a complete record.

“Ronnie [Canizaro, vocals] and I both had some major life changes since December,” says Buras. “Everybody’s had major changes since December obviously, but we had some personally moving news. The tipping point was when we jumped off writing these songs, we knew that move was happening. We knew we had to change what our situation was. So I feel like this record is a build up of that emotion. December/January is when we got to make that move and record the record. So those were all our built up emotions and this is what it came out as.”

The keys-man believes that fans may be surprised by the length of the album, clocking in at an hour. Meanwhile he gets to sing more on this one, and guitarist Lee McKinney even takes the mic for one song. Buras also says that there are interludes, intros and outros that are reminiscent of Born of Osiris classic The Discovery.

That’s a general theme running through Angel or Alien — it’s familiar yet new. Traditional but progressive. And that’s important because, after 17 years in existence, the band has a loyal fanbase which expects a spirit of adventure but longs for those strong roots put in place long ago.