Right after celebrating Canada Day with their tremendously funny, very unique version of O Canada, symphonic metal quintet OSYRON, who took us on a journey through Canadian and their personal history with the releases of Ignite and The Ones Below since the first announcement of their eagerly anticipated first release after the critically acclaimed Kingsbane back in 2017, are ready to celebrate a special milestone in their band history: Foundations is out now and brings us five highly immersive, epic songs that carry a tremendous amount of musical heritage.
Just in time for the release, the band has prepared a special surprise for everyone out there: a personal and very detailed Behind the Scenes documentary video that grants insights into the process of birthing Foundations. The band talks about their sound experiences of creating and thereby covers the steps of making an album, all the way from the first ideas and motivations through writing, recording, mixing and mastering:
And if that’s not enough for making it a perfect release week, guitarists Bobby and Krzysztof proudly announce that they are now officially endorsed SOLAR GUITARS artists. The brand, founded by THE HAUNTED guitarist and YouTube guitar Icon Ola Englund, offers high-quality instruments for everyone from amateurs to studio pros and touring musicians – showing strong focus on innovation and fair pricing while sticking to the highest possible standards. SOLAR GUITARS works with artists such as Marcus Siepen (BLIND GUARDIAN), Jonas Wolf (ELUVEITIE) or Johan Bergebäck (NECROPHOBIC), only to name a few.
Symphonic metal quintet OSYRON opened up a chapter in the history book about their home country Canada’s heritage and identity with the release of the impressive Ignite from the upcoming Foundations (out July 10). With the album’s second single The Ones Below, the band opens up another, even more personal chapter, this time of every one’s very own personal life. The record’s blend of heaviness, soul and deep atmosphere fits the band’s aspiration to delve into sensitive topics of Canadian culture, and while Foundations as a whole tells “the story of those who have been ignored for too long” – from Canadian troops in WW1 to the assimilation of the First Nations – The Ones Below builds a thematic bridge into everyone’s horizon of experience. Seeming to stick out among the other songs of the album at first, the new single takes up the most intimate topic in OSYRON’s narrative universe – dealing with loss and pain in order to find hope, something everyone can (sadly) relate to at least once in their lives. The song mixes calm, strong and thoughtful passages with a catchy and cheerful chorus. It’s celebrating the good times, honouring the ones that left us with a cheerful toast, and a plea to “Carry it on as they would carry it on for us”, as it says in the lyrics. The band underlines:
“A stand out, stand alone song lyrically from the theme of the album, The Ones Below pays tribute to the loss of a loved one or friend who has left our world. Paying homage to the good times and not dwelling on the bad. An upbeat song of hope that is inspired by the clinking of frosty mugs with a gentle touch down on the table soon to follow. A salute to the ones below.”
The Ones Below is available now for purchase and streaming on all digital platforms. Pre-sale for Foundations starts today: https://orcd.co/foundations. The album is out July 10, 2020 via SAOL/The Orchard.
What do you know about Canadian Metal? If you’re not from Canada: probably just a tad bit more than the little you might know about Canadian history, given how criminally underrepresented both topics are on a global scale today. Enter OSYRON, a quintet from Alberta, who decided with their upcoming third output Foundations (coming out on July 10th) to address the world and set things straight for good.
Their music, which in the past was slightly rooted in US speed metal and heavily influenced by European symphonic power metal, has culminated in one of the most feature-rich records of 2017, Kingsbane. With the new Foundations they’ve come a long way – it brings back all the trademarks that this gang of extraordinary musicians, composers and sound engineers has been loved and praised for since their first album Harbinger: Massive layered sections, luscious hooks and stuff that’s been composed to break fingers on fretboards.
The big difference lies in a sharpened focus. Everything about each of the five new compositions is meant to drill into the mind of the listener with no intention to leave. Five highly immersive, epic songs that carry a tremendous amount of musical heritage, while waltzing straight to the point, make for an exciting Canadian history lesson with zero filler material.
With the ego of the musician chilling on the backseat and the skill of the composer in front, Osyron have left the path of seeking the listener’s attention. Once their impelling, weeping riffscapes appear at the horizon, one is already drawn in until the music stops, simple as that. Because they’ve done it all before, the band can now focus on opening an elegant bridge from old-school extravaganza to contemporary heavy prog metal that just works as march music for thrashers, epic metal fans and proggers alike.Their captivating, sometimes Arabic feeling melodic arches enforce and carry a hefty narrative core and create a sensational contrast with a still present gutsy thrashiness – all woven into the open stage of a masterful production. The wide range of powerful vocal expression is spiced up with perfectly timed battle cries to bring back the desperate fierceness of Canadian troops in WW1, that somehow got treated with disregard by history classes around the world, despite their sad fate as cannon fodder for the British Commonwealth.
“Tell the story of those who have been ignored for too long” is Osyron’s message for their 2020 output Foundations, and the coherent blend of heaviness, soul and deep atmosphere explores Canada’s past and identity just as it’s meant to do. “It reflects personal and societal stigmas, opinions and preconceptions about Canadian culture and history by delving into sensitive topics such as cultural genocide, racism and segregation while also touching on more communal elements of emotion, like loss, pain, hope, and perspective of faith. And it brings to life the very foundations on which Canada as a nation was built: the bloodshed, war, and assimilation of different ethnic groups (mostly First Nations) that cultivated into what we know as Canada today.”
Here is what’s behind Foundation’s first single Ignite, straight from the band: “We all decided (in the process of making the song) that having a “riffy” chorus would just be a great mix up – as normally we’ve got these riff-laden verse sections and big chord and melodic choruses. After the first few rehearsal/listening sessions of the bones of the song, the rest of it came rolling out pretty quickly. (…) The lyrical concept behind Ignite is deeply rooted in history: During World War 1, Canada was still regarded as a Dominion of the UK and Great Britain. As such, its citizens and resources were to be treated as an asset in war and a pawn for the greater good of the commonwealth. Ignite explores the narrative from both perspectives (Canada and the UK) of what role Canada played in the First World War, while elaborating on the many sacrifices Canadian soldiers paid with their lives, and of laying the foundations of a sovereign Nation.”
Ignite will be available May 22nd on all digital platforms, the video is out today, watch it below. Foundations is released digitally onJuly 10th via SAOL/The Orchard. Stay tuned for further info about the pre-sale start and more music – coming soon!
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