BORN OF OSIRIS Reveals New Album Details

Way Too Loud! recently conducted an interview with guitarist Lee McKinney and vocalist Ronnie Canizaro of Chicago-based extreme metallers BORN OF OSIRIS. A couple of excerpts from the question-and-answer session follow below.

Way Too Loud!: I guess the newest news is that one of your guitar players is gone. Can you tell me about that?

Lee McKinney [guitars]: When we recorded our first album, it was during spring break of our senior year, and the guitar player we have new is Lee Evans. He was in the band when we recorded the album, so he was actually in the band before Matt was. Lee was a year younger than us when we started touring, so he wasn't able to come, plus at the time, I'm not sure if it was what he was ready for. Now that there's been time, he's ready for it, and it works better than it did before. As far as Matt [old guitarist, now plays bass for VEIL OF MAYA], there was a personal issue or two, but it wasn't all that. We're still cool with Matt, and he's in VEIL OF MAYA, and they're some of our best friends. We grew up playing local shows with them, so there's no tension or anything. We're all in better places.

Way Too Loud!: You released "The New Reign" in 2007, and most touring and album cycles are two years. Do you have anything planned for this year?

Ronnie Canizaro [vocals]: We have a CD recorded already called "A Higher Place". It's coming out hopefully on April 28. We're stoked on it!

Lee: We recorded it in Hadley, Massachusetts with Zeuss. He's done SHADOWS FALL, WHITCHAPEL, THE ACACIA STRAIN and stuff like that. He's a cool dude to work with.

Way Too Loud!: What can we expect the new album to be like?

Ronnie: It's a little more developed than our last album. It's not as compressed sounding. The drums sound more real, and the album is "fuller." It's more melodic, I would say, and heavier at the same time.

Lee: There's songs that don't have a breakdown or anything, so its not necessarily heavy in that sense, on the breakdown thing.

Ronnie: We don't want to be considered "deathcore" anymore, honestly. I don't really like any "deathcore" music ever. I never did, and I never will. But I guess WHITECHAPEL is considered "deathcore," and I like their music and they're sweet dudes, but for the most part I can't listen to deathcore music.

Lee: A lot of bands that are in that genre, not to name-drop or anything, but I see those bands having trouble putting our albums. A lot of those bands will put out their first album, then put out their second album, which might still do good, but by the third album, you've already heard it before. Even relating that to our new album, it's really different. It's something new and fresh, and I think that kids who heard the first album are going to like it, but it's going to appeal to a lot more kids, and hopefully a group of kids who are in it for the music, not some sort of trend. With the deathcore thing, there's the cool breakdown or the low/high [vocals]. It's out of feeling now because you've heard it so many times. I just don't understand all these bands that are continuing to get signed and put out more releases. Why do you need more bands when you already had the first ones? They just keep coming and coming.

You can read the entire interview at Way Too Loud!