Miss May I, Born of Osiris, Convictions, and Downswing

Originally conceived of in 2006 when the members remained in high school, Miss May I, formed of Levi Benton on lead vocals, Justin Aufdemkampe on lead guitar, B.J. Stead on rhythm guitar, Ryan Neff on bass guitar and Jerod Boyd on drums, soon found a proclivity for highly technical, melodic induced metalcore.

The band’s debut 5-track EP titled “Vows for a Massacre” along with their 2008 follow-up “Demo 2008” were self-released, the latter of which featured the songs “Architect” and “Tides” which would appear on their first full length “Apologies Are for the Weak” released by Rise Records on June 23, 2009. After a number of years touring the band announced they were to return to the studio to work on their sophomore release.

Miss May I’s musical influences have been stated as Pantera, Deftness, Avenged Sevenfold, Thirty Seconds to Mars among many many others and the variety can be heard in their music. The heavy powerful and screamed elements, combining with the melodic and emotional act in unison in a very driven way.

The sophomore album titled “Monument” was produced by Joey Sturgis and released August 17, 2010. “Monuments” debuted at No. 76 on the Billboard chart, peaked at No. 10 on the Top Hard Rock Albums Chart and No. 15 on the Top Independent Chart. The band subsequently released a music video for the track “Relentless Chaos” directed by Thunder Down Country and appeared on the 2011 Warped Tour.

The band returned to the studio in early 2012 and released their third full-length “At Heart” slightly later than expected on June 12, 2012, after which the band set out on a U.S. tour with After the Burial and Whitechapel among others, and a European tour with Parkway Drive and The Ghost Inside. In 2013 Miss May I supported Bullet For My Valentine on their March 2013 tour in the UK alongside Halestorm.

2014’s “Rise of the Lion” was the band most commercial and critical success, reaching No. 21 in the Billboard 200 and No. 2 in the U.S. Hard Rock album chart. The lyrics to the album were return letters to fans that they were unable to return at the time, with the vocalist Levi Benton stating “it’s a very fan based record”.

Born of Osiris, who take their name from the Egyptian deity Osiris and the tale of his son Horus, became a part of the Northland Chicago metalcore scene alongside Veil of Maya, Monsters, Oceano and For All I Am, all of which are now signed bands. The band successfully signed to Sumerian Records and released three full-length studio albums and two EPs on this label to date. They are made up of Ronnie Canizaro on lead vocals, Joe Buras on vocals, keyboards, synthesizer and programming, Lee McKinney on guitar, David Darocha on bass guitar and Cameron Losch on drums and percussion.

They have had considerable chart success across their career, with their first full-length album, “A Higher Place” released on July 7th 2009, which reached #73 on the US Billboard 200 Chart and #8 on the US Top Independent Albums Chart, selling over 6,000 copies. Their second full-length album, “The Discovery, was released on March 22nd 2011, and debuted at #87 on the Billboard 200. They released two singles from this album, “Recreate” and “Follow the Signs”. This album also made it to #6 on the US Billboard Hard Rock Albums.

Born of Osiris is one of those bands that tour relentlessly having played an array of festivals including the Summer Slaughter Tour in 2008 and 2009 and the Music as a Weapon Tour. They embarked on a co-headline tour dubbed The Night of the Living Shred tour with All Shall Perish, After the Burial, Caliban and Suffokate. They have supported bands such as Cannibal Corpse, Unearth and Hate Eternal.

The was a video posted of the guitarist Lee McKinney rehearsing over a riff which is rumoured to be a driving component in a song that will feature on a future release. He also had an 8-string guitar custom made for him by the UK guitar company Invictus, suggesting a change in musical direction, and it did in the form of an album called “Tomorrow We Die ∆live” which was their most successful album yet making it to number 27 on the Billboard 200, selling 13,052 copies in the first week.