- Nov 19, 2021

Born of Osiris Brings the heavy to the waiting room

We're kicking off the weekend early! I had a last-minute opportunity to jump onto the Born of Osiris show at the Waiting Room last night (11/18) and it was killer!

I knew it was going to be a busy weekend with a sold out Ice Nine Kills show tonight in Lincoln (11/19) and the Movember 5 Showcase also in Lincoln tomorrow (11/20), but I just couldn't resist the urge to get out there and catch some brutal death core!

Born of Osiris is out promoting their latest release Alien or Angel. For the last few months I kept seeing ads pop up for the album or I'd see video clips for their new song "Poster Child". The thing that struck me was how clean the vocals were for being such a heavy band. That and the cool synth wave element. I have total respect for bands that choose to do all heavy scream vocals, but personally it's always been harder for me to get into the music if I can't hear the lyrics.

I'm sure there a ton of bands that strive for annunciation in the scream vocal, but Lamb of God and Hatebreed instantly come to mind as some of the more prominent bands practicing this technique. When I hear Ronnie from Born of Osiris, Randy from Lamb of God comes to mind.

You might have the heaviest of heavy breakdowns but if you can combine that with a catchy chorus and some synth overlays you've got a recipe that will reach a lot more people, just my personal theory.

Before Born of Osiris took the stage The Waiting Room was treated to a stacked line-up including Sentinels, Signs of the Swarm, and Shadow of Intent. I also want to give a quick shout out to the local opener From This Day Forward. I didn't make it in time to catch their set since the show started at 6:30 but I looked them up on Spotify and they sound great! I hope I can catch them soon.

The first band up was Sentinels from New Jersey. These guys were a lot of fun. There was a super young kid in the front, maybe four or five years old on his dad's shoulders who was connecting with the drummer. While the music was pretty heavy, the band had a fun bounce and were interacting with the crowd a lot, getting them pumped up. The whole set the drummer had a huge smile.

I love when bands are screaming crazy things like "Burn!" all while having the biggest smile. It just shows the Metal community can sometimes be a little misunderstood. The music is heavy and angry, but most of the time Metal fans are some of the nicest people you'd ever like to meet. I've been seeing all these comparisons of metal shows to hip-hop/pop shows in light of the recent Astroworld tragedy. While I don't agree that Rock and Metal shows are "always 100% safe", I can tell you there's definitely a greater sense of community and love within the metal scene. The unspoken rule of "If someone falls, pick them up" is alive and well.

By the time the second band, Signs of the Swarm came on, the room had started to fill in pretty good. You could tell the beers were starting to kick in when the karate dancing started and someone in the circle pit kept yelling "What the eff's up Denny's?!"

Signs of the Swarm was heavy!! It felt like every song had that super deep bass breakdown that just rattles your chest. The only thing that detracted a bit was the singer's growl was so deep you almost couldn't hear it mixed in with the shredding guitars. But other than that it was a great set.

Next up was the band Shadow of Intent. With a good mix of heavy and technical, these guys shredded the stage. The band opened with a song that had some clean vocal back ups. I was caught a bit off guard thinking that they might be leaning a bit more metal core, but the clean vocals were short lived. Shadow of Intent brought the brutal though. The circle pit was raging and the fans were going wild.

There were a lot of people in the front singing along with hands in the air. Kudos to them for deciphering the growls and following along. You could tell Shadow of Intent was a huge presence. After the set the crowd loudly begged "One more song!" Though it's not my favorite style of metal, even I was hoping they would actually come back out. I suppose they didn't want to upstage the headliners.

After Shadow of Intent the crowd cleared out a bit, (probably to re-hydrate after grinding around in the sweaty mob). I took the opportunity to get up front for photos when Born of Osiris came on. As I was waiting there was a kid in the front with a Shadow of Intent badge on his vest. He was anxiously waiting for the band to break down their gear and take a photo.

I told him he could relax and that the band would be at the merch booth afterwards. I said "Most of the time if you see a band breaking down and setting up their own gear, there's a good chance they will be selling their own merch, interacting with fans, etc.". This kid said he was in the military and had to get back to Colorado Springs for work the next day. What??

Wow, that's some dedication. I've traveled for shows tons of times, but I don't think I've ever driven out of town only to drive back the same night for work or school the next day. That's pretty wild. I mean, if the only choice was to drive all night and go to work after seeing the Hives, of course I would do it, so I get it.

Finally, the wait was over and it was time for the mighty Born of Osiris! As the house lights went dark, the stage flickered with strobing pulses. Angelic keyboard tones filled the room and then the double bass drums kicked in. Let the shred begin!

You would think being right in front of lead singer Ronnie would make for some great photo opportunities, but I was quickly slammed from behind as the raucous crowd pushed forward in excitement. I held my ground for about a song and a half before making a quick exit to the left.

As the circle pit whipped into a frenzy I did my best to stay to the outside. Driving home after a karate kick to the head is never fun. After snapping a few more photos from behind the circle pit I retired to the back for the rest of the show. It was a delight watching the crowd, with fists in the air, barrel through the room and smash into each other. Born of Osiris gave the Omaha metal scene an injection of heavy tunes we won't soon forget!

Big thanks to Cosa Nostra PR for the last minute photo access! If you like what you read, please share! Every like, share, and follow helps keep content like this going.