Osyron
Foundations
SAOL / The Orchard
2020
“Foundations” is the third outing from this young Canadian quintet (presently) that seems to have graduated their earlier releases, by upping everything that worked on “Harbinger” and “Kingsbane”. This extra-long EP seems to dwell long on historic themes, basically the fate of Canadian troops during WW1 and I am happy to see the more ponderous and prog oriented treatment they give to the subject, compared to other bands that choose to cover similar subjects.
In fact their style is bizarrely managing to bridge both American and European styles and also transcend decades, feeling both as a throwback to the 90s but also able to go a little prog-cory… here and there, I was thinking Queensryche, 90s Fates, but also some alt stuff and more contemporary artists like Myrath for instance – they’re not that eastern, but they’re more than it should be legal for any maple syrup lickin, anvil and rush loving fella to be without taking belly dancing lessons (lol)!
Actually “The Cross” manages to be the weird amalgam of all the aforementioned.
“Ignite” short of takes those principles and spreads them over some very rhythmical riffing that sounds even more eastern. Are these guys surely from Calgary?
“Battle of the Thames” is a softer, flute introduced tune, which is half march, half folk ballad – done in the best fashion possible that made me think of latter day Skyclad, Saxon, Ten and others... there’s something very British about it… which makes the ensuing “The Ones Below” at least it’s very hair-metal sounding intro, quite hard to fathom. It manages to align itself with the rest of the material on offer, sooner, rather than later, but with all due respect, it sounds a little left-field from where one would have expected it to be… it does feature a nice slowdown and solo, so we might as well turn a blind eye or two… who? Exactly…
Last but certainly not least, “Foundations” is a song that manages to fully justify its extended length of over eight minutes, as it does build slowly, with well thought out parts and melodies that have a nice “todd-ryche-ness” about them. The subject of how present day Canada was born, through bloodshed war and the assimilation (not perfect) of different ethnic groups, seems to be near and dear to the band and they treat it with due respect, building a somber but at the same time soothing prog epic around it. Even without having some out and out crescendo the song manages to send chills down one’s spine – even if they’re merely listeners and that dear friends is the magic of music… being able to touch you, profoundly even if it’s only soundwaves/ie energy. Glorious. And no burden at all.
In fact their style is bizarrely managing to bridge both American and European styles and also transcend decades, feeling both as a throwback to the 90s but also able to go a little prog-cory… here and there, I was thinking Queensryche, 90s Fates, but also some alt stuff and more contemporary artists like Myrath for instance – they’re not that eastern, but they’re more than it should be legal for any maple syrup lickin, anvil and rush loving fella to be without taking belly dancing lessons (lol)!
Actually “The Cross” manages to be the weird amalgam of all the aforementioned.
“Ignite” short of takes those principles and spreads them over some very rhythmical riffing that sounds even more eastern. Are these guys surely from Calgary?
“Battle of the Thames” is a softer, flute introduced tune, which is half march, half folk ballad – done in the best fashion possible that made me think of latter day Skyclad, Saxon, Ten and others... there’s something very British about it… which makes the ensuing “The Ones Below” at least it’s very hair-metal sounding intro, quite hard to fathom. It manages to align itself with the rest of the material on offer, sooner, rather than later, but with all due respect, it sounds a little left-field from where one would have expected it to be… it does feature a nice slowdown and solo, so we might as well turn a blind eye or two… who? Exactly…
Last but certainly not least, “Foundations” is a song that manages to fully justify its extended length of over eight minutes, as it does build slowly, with well thought out parts and melodies that have a nice “todd-ryche-ness” about them. The subject of how present day Canada was born, through bloodshed war and the assimilation (not perfect) of different ethnic groups, seems to be near and dear to the band and they treat it with due respect, building a somber but at the same time soothing prog epic around it. Even without having some out and out crescendo the song manages to send chills down one’s spine – even if they’re merely listeners and that dear friends is the magic of music… being able to touch you, profoundly even if it’s only soundwaves/ie energy. Glorious. And no burden at all.