OSYRON

CANADIAN PROGRESSIVE METAL quintet Osyron really didn't leave themselves much wriggle room when they decided to call their fourth album Momentous. Fortunately, these residents of Calgary, Alberta genuinely seem to have struck upon a new, potentially game-changing formula. While owing plenty to the hallowed likes of Dream Theater and Symphony X, Momentous also harnesses the cutting-edge heaviness of post-Tesseract metal and a strong sense of old-school prog ebb and flow. As a result, Momentous lived up to its title with ease when it emerged in November 2022.
"We've always tried to stay melodic and within the realm of hooks and melody," says vocalist Reed Alton. "But then we've also tried to get darker and heavier. Over the last two releases [Momentous and 2020's Foundations], we've really just focused more on songwriting, getting smarter and thinking about why we're making the decisions we're making, like, 'Where does this lead us and what are we trying to convey?" The silver lining with the Covid thing was that there was a lot of inspiration and we had a lot of time. I really think that helped us to progress."
A significant leap forward from Osyron's early releases, Momentous manages to cram everything from full-bore thrash metal to ambient neofolk into its 56-minute duration. Melody remains the Canadians' greatest weapon, however, and Alton's versatile and emotive vocal performance is as convincing as it gets. As he explains, these songs were written during a time of introspection that the majority of people can surely relate to.
"The lyrics stem from a lot of depression, and a lot of overcoming obstacles," he notes. "The album became about larger-than-life things that make you question who you are, the place where you live and the people around you. We wanted to express that on a large scale, and to make it da...