One style of metal that Canada truly excels
at is power metal. Yet for all the years I’ve listened to this subgenre, no
Canadian band has even approached the brilliance of Orangeville group Borealis.
Their debut album “World of Silence” was probably my most listened to album
throughout high school, and the follow-up record, “Fall From Grace”, while
stylistically quite different, was almost just as great. The shift between the
two records was from a more traditional power metal sound in the vein of
Stratovarius or Sonata Arctica to something heavier and more progressive like
Evergrey or Symphony X. Personally, I’m not really a fan of the latter bands,
but “Fall From Grace” was still an incredible record. For that reason, the
band’s third record, “Purgatory”, was definitely one that worried me. The
transformation of this band is largely complete, as they’ve completely dropped
most of the elements of their older sound, and the result is actually much better
than I expected.
Part of the reason why Borealis pulls off
this sound so well is due to the development of vocalist Matt Marinelli. He’s
always been a good singer, but there were a couple of moments on the debut that
felt a bit awkward vocally. Throughout the years, he has been able to project
his voice a lot better and ends up sounding far more confident than he used to
as a singer. Although he can hit some high notes, his voice is on the lower end
when it comes to power or progressive metal singers, which is a refreshing
change.
Aside from the vocals, “Purgatory” is
especially effective in creating an intense atmosphere. This is due in large
part to keyboard player Sean Werlick. He occasionally stands out with melodies
of his own, but he excels when playing chords to support the rest of the band.
This is something he has done well throughout every Borealis record (in fact, I
didn’t even like keyboards in metal until hearing “World of Silence” for the
first time). Sometimes bands in this style of music get off the tracks when
they lose sight of the fact that metal is usually guitar-driven, but that
doesn’t really happen on “Purgatory”. This means that both the aforementioned
Marinelli and other guitarist Michael Briguglio are always delivering great
riffs. The band sounds like they’re playing in a lower tuning than the old
days, but the result sounds incredibly heavy. There is plenty of chugging on this album (though not as many blatant breakdowns as in the past), but Borealis still offers fantastic riffs as well. The solos are a little more
difficult to judge; on the one hand, they’re well-composed and fit the music
perfectly, but the old solos were so mindblowing that it is a slight letdown
(“The Afterlife” and “Forgotten Forever” are two that come to mind).
The changes on “Purgatory” are not really
what make it a better or worse album than the band’s previous work. This new
sound fits Borealis perfectly. The reason why this album doesn’t hold up as
well as the first two for me is that the songwriting isn’t as strong or
consistent throughout. The first issue is that there are 12 songs on the album,
and they can be hard to differentiate at times. The first 6 songs are all up
there with anything the band has done in the past, as is “Revelation”, but on
the second half of the album, it feels like the band is just continuing to
explore already-trodden territory. Filler might be a harsh term, but some of these
songs are the only ones in Borealis’ catalogue where even after numerous
listens, I can’t pick them out by the title.
With that said, it’s worth delving into
some of the other songs because they show the band’s talent well. “Revelation”
is the band’s most epic moment, and the perfect track to end the album with
(the feelings it conjures definitely remind one of the previous album’s closing
track “Forgotten Forever”). “From The Ashes” continues the band’s theme of
bringing in guest vocalists, as this song features local singer Sarah Dee quite prominently.
She actually compliments Marinelli really well, and this makes the song stand
out considerably. “My Peace” was the first song released from the album, and is
definitely among the stronger tracks, due in large part to the emotional chorus
driven by a fantastic vocal performance.
Overall, “Purgatory” is another stellar effort. This review might seem a little negative, but it’s incredibly difficult
to judge a band that has had as big of an impact on me as Borealis has. You
know a record is good when it’s in a style where you don’t like any other bands
that are similar, yet it’s an album of the year contender. It seems unlikely
the band will ever move back to a standard power metal direction, but they don’t
really need to. If this record were a few songs shorter, it would be even
better, but either way, it is still an essential listen!
Highlights
"From The Ashes"
"The Chosen One"
"My Peace"
"Revelation"
Final Rating
4.75/5 or 95%.
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