
Still, I gave "Through Shadows" a go during my lunch break, wedged between a Peugeot 308 with a caved-in door and an Audi that stinks of wet dog and despair. And I’ll say this—if you’ve ever sanded filler while listening to the soundtrack of a cosmic nervous breakdown, you’re already halfway there.
The opener "Seppuku" comes in swinging like a hammer to the ribs—tight, clinical, a bit like when the dent’s so bad you know your soul’s going to leave your body before the shift’s done. "Elevate" tries to get fancy with its clean vocals and time signatures, but it just reminded me of when a customer asks for a "quick fix" and then freaks when you quote them for three days’ work and a full respray.
"Through Shadows", the title track, is full of talk about darkness and light and finding yourself, which is rich coming from a band that sounds like a Terminator meltdown in a spiritual retreat. Still, fair play, it’s the kind of track that’d fit perfectly if I ever lose it and drive straight into the river with the torch still in my mouth.
I liked "Inverno" for the riffs, mostly because they drowned out Gary in the next bay going on about his third divorce. "A Mind Short Circuiting" is what I imagine my brain sounds like after eight Red Bulls and a flat battery on a Ford Mondeo.
They’re at their best on "Torchbearer" and "Transcendence", where everything feels like it’s about to collapse under its own weight—but in a good way, like a write-off that somehow looks better than it did new. "Blackwater" closes the album out with enough melodrama to power a thousand TikToks, but I’ll admit: it stuck with me. Like the stink of fibreglass dust and frustration in my nostrils.
BORN OF OSIRIS aren’t here to make your day better. They’re here to soundtrack the slow, grinding entropy of modern life—and if that isn’t metalcore’s true purpose, I don’t know what is. Will I listen again? Probably. At least it makes more sense than the quote I just gave to a bloke wanting his bumper "perfect" for under a tenner.
Rating: 7.5 Crushed Panels Out Of 10. (Would weld again, preferably while ignoring Gary. - Words: Matt Denny.