Borealis ~ World of Silence

Borealis
World of Silence
2009

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Canada: the birthplace of basketball, American football (the CFL is far superior to the NFL), the lightbulb, the commercial jetliner, and the garbage bag (just to name a few). The country has been a birthplace for great bands such as Rush, Triumph, The Killer Dwarfs, and Blackguard, as well as a host of wussy bands that I won't mention. I would like to add to that list of great bands out of Canada: Borealis.

I mentioned in an earlier review that ProgPower is a festival on my bucket list. Borealis played at the 2010 event and that's when they came to my attention. I tracked down their music online and I was blown away. After playing email tag with the band's bassist Jamie Smith for a few months, he sent me a copy of World of Silence for me to check out. In a nutshell, what I have to say is: HECK YEAH!!

If you're a fan of Sonata Arctica, Evergrey, Kamelot, and Vanishing Point, you will be a fan of Borealis. While the band plays power metal, they also have symphonic and progressive elements in to their songs. The majority of the songs on World of Silence are a little faster than mid-tempo with a few power ballads thrown into the mix. There's a really good balance between the guitar and the keyboard, each getting a chance to carry the melodies and the solos. The vocals are a great fit for the band, but at times lack a little of the theatrics that are common with this style of music. Lastly, the rhythm section is very tight (you could probably set the atomic clock to it). The songs that stand out to me are "Midnight City", "World of Silence", and "The Dawning Light".

While this is the bands first full length release, the thing that stands out to me most is that the songs are very mature, as if the band has many years of song writing experience. On the downside, although the band's debut release clocks in at almost a full hour, and though the songs are largely fantastic, I find my attention starting to wander towards the end while taking the entire album in one sitting. This could simply be a curse of the modern age we live in.

The band has a new release coming out in May that I am really looking forward to. Borealis is a great young band and World of SIlence is capable of turning heads.

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Live Long and Rock Hard,
SpaceKev


SpaceKev's Rating: 8.5 out of 10