Album Review: Borealis - Illusions

Off the top of my head, I can't think of many cases where a band exists that sounds so much like a more famous group, but I like them better than their fore-bearers. I'm sure there are a couple, but it's the sort of thing that doesn't happen very often, because even when we claim originality isn't all that important, the first to do something get to occupy a different space in our minds. It might not be important to the quality of the music, but it's easier to remember something the first time you encounter it.

Borealis has, ever since I first heard them, existed mainly in my mind as a band that sounds nearly identical to Evergrey. Given what I have written about that band over the years, you would think that wouldn't be a good thing. Perhaps it isn't, but the times I have listened to Borealis have been far better than almost all of my experiences with Evergrey. They build from the same colors, but the end result looks completely different.

The core of Borealis' sound is found in the vocals, with a deep tone similar to that of Tom Englund. The band also plays the same semi-progressive brand of metal, with guitar tones borrowing from the same basic amp settings. If you played both bands on shuffle, it wouldn't always be obvious which you are listening to.

The different between the two is, at least to my ears, the way they build melodies. Other than the brief (and usually hated) period where Evergrey tried to be more modern and streamlined, they have relied more on Englund's charisma than hooky melodies. That works for the people who absolutlely love his voice, but I am not one of them, so I have often felt their music come off rather cold and impersonal. That's odd, since his emotion is what everyone loves about him.

Borealis doesn't try to wallow as deeply in their own tears, and I think that's what makes their music work. Rather than being heavy in an emotional sense, their music has enough energy to it to support the heavy guitars without them sagging into a sad mess. Borealis' music is big and powerful, with bellowing vocals that are necessary for the scope of what they are doing.

The only downside to all of this is that this album continues the story from their previous album, so if you're trying to pay attention to what these songs are about, you need to be fully versed in a different album to get the whole message. I hate that sort of thing, both because I have severe doubts this story is interesting enough to stretch over nearly two hours of music, but because it also keeps people from jumping on board. I am a writer, so I love lyrics, but when an album tells me right off the bat I need to do homework to understand it, I'm inclined to say 'forget this', and move on to something else. It's like Coheed & Cambria, where I know they do some cool stuff I would enjoy, but there isn't a chance in hell I'm going to sit through eight albums of storyline just to know what in the world they're singing about.

If you liked Evergrey's album from earlier in the year, I would tell you to listen to this one, because I think it's far better. If you've never gotten the hype for Evergrey, I would still say this one is worth a shot, because perhaps you will hear in Borealis what everyone else seems to hear in Evergrey.

And yes, I know I shouldn't spend so much time talking about another band, but when they sound almost like clones, it's hard not to. At least in this case, Borealis comes out the winner, so it's not such a bad thing.