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Unless Born of Osiris releases an absolute banger as their next record, I’m pretty sure Through Shadows is where I get off the Born of Osiris hype train. This record is just not good.

Born of Osiris was a major player in the golden age of Sumerian Records during the late 2000s and early 2010s. That era was packed with absolute bangers from bands like After the Burial, The Faceless, Periphery, Veil of Maya, and Circle of Contempt. You get the idea – the label was very different at the time. They’re still big now, but back then they were really pioneering a lot of that type of music, and it was a really big deal.

And Born of Osiris wasn’t just part of the golden age of Sumerian Records – they were pretty near the top of it. From the surgical chaos of The New Reign in 2007 to their more atmospheric album A Higher Place in 2009, culminating in the undeniable masterpiece that is The Discovery from 2011, Born of Osiris’ trajectory was meteoric. The Discovery still holds up today.

Then unfortunately came the first blow for Born of Osiris. Guitarist Jason Richardson, who is credited as the lead songwriter on every single song from The Discovery, left the band. Longtime guitarist Lee McKinney stepped into Richardson’s lead guitar role, and the band followed up with Tomorrow We Die Alive in 2013, which already felt like a pretty hefty step down. It had its moments, but the spark was definitely dimming from the absolute total masterpiece that was The Discovery.

And unfortunately, the exodus of Born of Osiris members didn’t really stop there. Longtime bassist David Darocha exited in 2017, followed by keyboardist and backing vocalist Joe Buras in 2024. Even McKinney, a central figure in Born of Osiris, left the band this year in 2025.

And with all those departures and five albums since The Discovery, you’d kinda hope that Born of Osiris might’ve recalibrated or rediscovered some fire and delivered something compelling or different or got in touch with their roots and really nailed down a new sound. But instead, in 2025, we got Through Shadows, which is a confused, creatively exhausted record that sounds like a pale rehash of everything they’ve been doing post-The Discovery. Whatever identity or edge Born of Osiris once had has been kinda blurred into this mess of predictable riffs and undercooked synths and tired structures and very over-processed production.

“Seppuku” opens Through Shadows and unfortunately lays bare many of the record’s core issues right from the jump. Chief among them is the cut-and-paste approach to songwriting. The track feels like it was assembled in blocks – just kinda recorded in isolated chunks and then stitched together with little consideration for flow. You get these hard cuts between sections that repeat with minimal variation, making the whole song feel kinda static despite how busy it is with all these riffs.

And then there are the clean vocals, which aren’t bad but never really provide a solid hook throughout the record. It feels like the clean vocals are mostly there for marketability and not because any song actually needed a clean chorus. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to clean vocals in metal. Heavy metal was quite literally founded solely with clean vocals. But they’re not really working on this song and they’re not really working on this record, so why include them?

And the same goes for the electronic elements on this song and on this record. I’m not opposed to synths or digital layers in metal, and Born of Osiris has leaned into that territory for years now and they’ve made it work in the past. But the palette hasn’t evolved. It’s the same tired arpeggiators and synth patches that just keep resurfacing, and Through Shadows feels like the breaking point where the stagnation finally undermines the record as a whole. It just feels like Born of Osiris hasn’t really progressed that element of their sound – and how many times can we hear that before it just gets kinda old and boring?

The first real spark – or the first real song that I actually truly enjoyed – on Through Shadows arrives with “Inverno”, which is the fifth track on the album. I’m not sure that I love this song, but credit where it’s due – this is the first time in the record where Born of Osiris sounds genuinely engaged and inspired. The band leans into some refreshingly unexpected chorus progressions and stylistic shifts that hint at a fire that’s been mostly missing up to this point on the album.

What makes “Inverno” stand out is that their usual ADHD-styled songwriting – you know, those fast cuts and constantly shifting parts – actually feels refined here. The chaos is controlled. The disparate elements click in a way that they don’t on pretty much the rest of this record. And most importantly, Born of Osiris steps outside their usual comfort zone and includes some really interesting chord progressions – and the result is pretty interesting.

If they could bottle up this energy and apply it to more of their material, they might be on the verge of something much more compelling and totally worth listening to.

I feel similarly about “A Mind Short Circuiting”. There are some genuinely interesting curveballs thrown in, particularly in the chorus chord progression. It’s one of the rare moments where Born of Osiris hits at something really fresh – but that moment is immediately torpedoed by “Burning Light”, which is a completely unnecessary two-minute interlude that goes nowhere, followed by the utterly forgettable “In Desolation”.

“Torchbearer” brings things back to life momentarily with its stomp-heavy drive. It’s aggressive, it’s energized, it’s a bit straightforward – but that’s kind of a good thing in this case.

But whatever spark it reignites gets smothered again by “Activated”, which really should have been a highlight on this record. “Activated” features Spencer Chamberlain and it has some serious potential. This is not a bad song, but Born of Osiris doesn’t really do anything to integrate Chamberlain in a meaningful way. His feature feels slapped on, like just kind of an afterthought rather than a deliberate collaboration.

Then comes “Dark Fable”, and I’ll be honest – I’m kind of floored by this song actually. This is exactly the direction Born of Osiris should have taken post-The Discovery. “Dark Fable” has this spacious synth-driven atmosphere paired with soaring guitar melodies and well-placed screams, with the clean vocals actually landing for once – actually providing a really solid earworm hook in the chorus. It’s melodic, it’s dynamic, and it’s strikingly confident in its own identity. It stands out as one of the best tracks on the record – and somehow feels totally disconnected from everything else around it.

“Transcendence” follows and we’re right back to this stapled-together Born of Osiris million-parts-per-second thing, ending with an unnecessary minute-plus of disconnected electronica that adds absolutely nothing to the song.

And then there’s the closer, “Blackwater”, which teases some pretty interesting clean guitar textures, but they never quite gel with the heavier elements, leaving the track – and the whole entire album – totally unresolved.

Through Shadows is a mess, and I think I might have a guess as to why. Much like Slaughter to Prevail’s latest album, the singles for Through Shadows started rolling out all the way back in 2023, when Buras was still in the band – and McKinney was still in the band as well; he only quit recently.

This album has been written, recorded, and stewed for over nearly two years, and somewhere along that timeline, it just kind of feels like Born of Osiris lost the plot of what they were trying to actually do with this album. It just feels like a collection of songs – or a playlist – more than it does a cohesive unit.

And who knows, maybe with Buras and McKinney now permanently out of Born of Osiris, there’s a chance they can finally reset, recalibrate, and approach their next record with a clearer headspace and a more cohesive vision. And maybe what Born of Osiris really needs again is just fresh blood – a fresh perspective on their music.

I’m not trying to beat a dead horse here, but it’s worth remembering that The Discovery had Jason Richardson credited as lead writer on every single track. It’s not unreasonable to think that bringing in a new creative force could reignite something in Born of Osiris. Someone to challenge the formula, someone to shake up the comfort zone, and inject much-needed energy into their songwriting process.

Because as it stands, Through Shadows might be Born of Osiris‘ weakest effort to date. And that kills me, because I do think this band could do a lot better than that.

Through Shadows is unfortunately a 3 out of 10 for me. There are a few solid tracks – “Inverno”, “A Mind Short Circuiting”, “Torchbearer”, and “Dark Fable” – but even those feel like isolated singles and highlights within a larger narrative. And that is one of my core issues with this record.

As a record, Through Shadows is a mess. It lacks cohesion, direction, and any real sense of identity and what it is as an album. This is Born of Osiris trying to recap the past decade-ish of their sound, with dwindling returns and what feels like a hesitancy to step forward into a new era.

Born of Osiris feels like a band in flux right now, and unless they course-correct, Through Shadows might be remembered more as a warning sign than the end of a whatever chapter and the start of something really good. And again, I want Born of Osiris to be awesome again. They have good records. They are great musicians. I just hope Through Shadows isn’t a warning sign of worse things to come.

Stream or buy Through Shadows here.