By John Bedard
When I opened my email and saw “for fans of Nightwish and Kamelot”, Osyron’s ‘Foundations’ had my undivided attention. Those are some pretty high bars in my mind. To me, it is like someone walking into a talent show and singing ‘I Will Always Love You’ by Whitney Houston: you had better be able to hit that note because if you can’t we will know that you have a very inflated view of yourself and will probably not be taken seriously in the future. So now that I have set up how seriously I take this genre, does Osyron hit those notes? Do they deserve a place on your playlist next to Nightwish or Kamelot? Hell yeah, they do!
The whole style is very similar to what you would expect from Kamelot. Especially vocally. That is not to say that they don’t stand out as their own as well but very much in the same family. We have that deep but very clean vocal with a pretty wide range that is used just right. There is a good evolution throughout the tracks giving some variety to things that is very welcome. As for the lyrical content, as a self-centered non-Canadian American I know very little about Canadian history other than them burning down the white house so I can’t really speak to any specific points in what they are singing about. I do like concept albums based on history though as they give me something interesting to learn and they give the album a story which makes it easier to get invested in.
Musically, I have very similar things to say. The style is very much in the same family as Kamelot but does not sound like a copycat. There is a really nice evolution from track to track as well as within individual tracks that makes every second of the album feel like it is going somewhere. This matches perfectly with the story being told in the lyrics. It makes for a very complete and intention sounding experience.
While I won’t say this is some earth-shattering album that is going to change the world or anything, this is a very solid entry into one of my favorite genres and I think it will fit right in many people’s playlists – and, more importantly, I think the playlist would be lacking without it. This one is worth picking up. I don’t think you will regret it at all.
- ‘Foundations’ is released on Friday. You can get your copy HERE.
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