Sunday 31 May 2015

Borealis - Purgatory (CD Review)


01.Past The Veil
02.From The Ashes
03.The Chosen One
04.Destiny
05.Darkest Sin
06.My Peace
07.Place Of Darkness
08.Welcome To Eternity
09.Sacrifice
10.Rest My Child
11.Purgatory
12.Revelation

Matt Marinelli (Vocals/Guitar)
Mike Briguglio (Guitar)
Sean Werlick (keyboards)
Jamie Smith (Bass)
Sean Dowell (Drums)



Starting out in 2005, Canadian band Borealis wasn't supposed to sound as it does today. The first songs and live performances were done with a female opera singer. It was quickly realized that the possibilities were limited following that path, so they set out to find the right sound. During their search, enough songs were written to record an album, but there was no luck finding a singer, until they realised their guitarist could sing!

With their new singer and an arsenal of songs, Borealis entered the studio, and after a long and endlessly drawn out time, World of Silence was unleashed. Having played locally with Kamelot, Epica, and Sonata Arctica with nothing to sell, patient fans were elated to finally get their hands on the album, and Borealis played a packed show with Edguy to support it.

Musically Borealis leans towards the power metal sound, not too far removed from a band such as Evergrey or even Savatage in their prime, but also the more progressive bands like 'Vanden Plas' or 'Dream Theater' springs to mind here and there.

Well lets start on a positive note, the intro IS included as part of the first song, so thats a couple of rating points already, but then the first 3 songs are pretty much straight forward power metal, not quite as annoying as the european stuff but not far behind.

Track 4 'Destiny' kicks off with a solid and heavy riff, some great technical drumming and good use of keyboards, yes its symphonic, especially when the vocal and piano replace the rest of the band, but when it comes together, this one turns into a pretty solid song.

They seriously drag this down with the next song 'Darkest Sin' an acoustic ballad, this has no place anywhere in modern metal music at all.

The rest is back to the "slightly less annoying power metal" style, though they do throw another damn ballad in for some strange reason.

So bar one track this is yet another average metal by numbers album, that seems to be on the increase at the moment.

Rating 5/10
For Fans Of: Evergrey, Nickleback

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