Review Summary: If you were not completely satifisfied with The New Reign, this may be worth a quick look
Chicago, Illinois’s Born of Osiris burst into the metal community with their Sumerian debut The New Reign. Appearing as just another deathcore with some good hooks with songs like “Bow Down,” and “Abstract Art.” Since then the band has matured greatly and changed their tone to become more of a progressive band like many of their label mates.
What we get is a slightly more developed, melodic and progressive take on their The New Reign EP. While still a balance of deathcore and tech death metal, the synths on A Higher Place have become more integral to the songs rather than random injections or intros and the music has become a little more choppy and complex; not quite the full on plunge into pure technical metal, but a more Meshuggah-ish realm of stammering polyrhythms (i.e. “Thrive”) and elegant solos. The end result will still see a majority of real death metal fans hate them, and the kids will still go nuts for them, but like The Faceless and Burning the Masses, Within the Ruins and such, no matter how much you hate the band, you have to admit they have some skill (a fact cemented by the addition of Animals As Leaders virtuoso Tosin Abasi to the bands ranks).
One of the problems I have with A Higher Place is the second I would get into the groove and enjoy a song it would be over soon after. For a band that tags themselves with the word “Epic” they should certainly look into playing songs that go beyond the two to three minute range. Thirteen tracks spanning less than thirty five minutes is honestly very disheartening.
Although the release may not be much better than The New Reign, Sumerian struck gold signing Born of Osiris, two albums in and they continue to progress and experiment with different approaches to their albums, the future looks bright if they keep improving and taking steps in the right direction.
Recommended Tracks-
“Now Arise”
“Exist”
“Live Like I’m Real”
“Put To Rest”
