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Colorado riff merchants ALLEGAEON have enjoyed a booming soar in success in recent times. Despite a career rapidly approaching two decades, the last nine years or so have seen the band cement their status as a consistently solid proposition. It began with 2016’s Proponent For Sentience, a record that pushed the ALLEGAEON soundscape to new and previously unchartered territory, and subsequent releases – 2019’s Apoptosis and 2022’s Damnum – saw the band strike whilst the iron was hot, building momentum but it was not without it’s hardships along the way. Personal loss and changes with the band’s lineup with vocalist Riley McShane departing, this year’s The Ossuary Lens sees ALLEGAEON reflecting inwards to questions the great mortality.
“One of the things that really influenced this album’s title was our experience visiting ossuaries while touring in Europe,” explains guitarist and band founder Greg Burgess, who joins us via Zoom from his home in Canada. “We had been to a couple over the years, and every time, it struck me how different cultures treat death, not just as something to fear, but as something that can be acknowledged, even honoured. There’s something eerie and deeply humbling about walking into a place where thousands of human bones are arranged deliberately, artistically even, and seeing how the people who lived in those regions viewed mortality. It’s not hidden away – it’s displayed, almost as if to say, ‘this is inevitable, but it’s also part of something larger.’ That perspective made its way into the album’s themes in subtle ways. The title itself is a nod to those spaces, to that idea of viewing death not as a tragedy, but as a fact, a phenomenon, an unavoidable transition. It’s not about dwelling in grief the way Damnum did—it’s about stepping back and examining death from every possible angle.”
This willingness to broach a topic as heavy as death, but through a wider analytical lens, demonstrates just how far ALLEGAEON have come, with their songwriting maturity on full show. It’s a far cry from the science filled days of Dyson Spheres, God particles and ancient civilisations. For Greg, he acknowledges that whilst the science themes and lyrical explorations will always remain a core aspect of the ALLEGAEON DNA, today, the band strive to seek a balance. “It was very important for me to not abandon the science themes we’ve always explored as a band. That’s been a cornerstone of ALLEGAEON from the very beginning, and I didn’t want to see that disappear just because the album leaned into personal and philosophical ideas. So when Ezra [Haynes, the band’s original vocalist] came back and started writing, we wanted to strike a balance between these introspective moments and our signature scientific concepts. Ezra’s lyrical contributions really solidified the theme of the album. His time away from the band was deeply personal, and he had to go through a lot to get healthy again. Those experiences shaped his writing, and in many ways, they intertwined with the bigger themes of mortality, survival, and transformation. Science fiction often becomes science fact, but death is still the one thing we haven’t figured out how to beat. And even though medicine and research keep improving, it’s always going to be this inevitable thing that looms over humanity. We didn’t set out to make a record focused on death – it just naturally emerged as a unifying theme through everything we wrote.”
Although the subject matter might be uncomfortable, one of The Ossuary Lens‘ greatest traits is the record’s ability to showcase a collective unity within the ALLEGAEON ranks. And this unity and shared vision sits at the heart of the album’s creative process. “I had to go back to kindergarten to learn how to share really,” he laughs. “Putting Ezra in that I think was invaluable because he got to learn to write with Boo Boo [Brandon Michael, bass] and with Jeff [Saltzman drums]. He wrote with Michael [Stancel, guitars] back on Elements Of The Infinite, right? So Michael’s the only other guy that he played with and obviously with me. We had our way of doing it, but like to sit down and, and Boo Boo is a phenomenal musician all around. So they would work on vocal lines together and just, you know, Boo Boo, Michael and Ezra, that collaborative effort within just the three of them was something to behold. You know, I just sat back on the couch eating snacks, just watching them work!”
Indeed, it is this collective vision that runs through the beating heart of The Ossuary Lens. Its poignant analysis of death serves as its anchor and across its runtime, you experience a band that is singing from the same hymn sheet. And considering The Ossuary Lens marks the return of original vocalist Ezra Haynes, this feels all the more worthy of celebrating. Having initially re-joined in 2022 to front the band on a jaunt across European and UK shores, The Ossuary Lens marks the first ALLEGAEON record to feature Ezra Haynes since 2014’s Elements Of The Infinite. A homecoming this may be, but for Greg and Ezra himself, his return to ALLEGAEON marks a bold step forwards.
“By the time we hit Berlin on that tour, he had like flowed right back into how it was, and it’s like he’s just meant to be there, you know? And that’s, that’s no shade to Riley at all. I hope it doesn’t come off that way, I’m very, very grateful to the man for the years he put in and his contributions, you know?” Greg reflects. “Ezra really wanted to respect the time when he was away. He wanted to respect the songs that Riley had worked on, you know, Riley’s extremely talented in his skillset. And that was one of the reasons that, you know, we wanted him in the band. It’s been so long that we’ve learned a lot since he’s been away. Things run way differently now than when Ezra was in the band. I think he’s kind of like coming to this, you know, and had to learn a little bit, kind of like the new way. But I think he actually prefers it because back then it was like anarchy, you know what I mean? We were younger! I think there’s that stereotype: musicians aren’t businessmen, you know what I mean? It’s like you learn as you go. And it’s been so long that we’ve learned a lot since he’s been away. And so it just, things run a little bit smoother now than they did and, you know, we hold fast to certain things that really help us as a business. It feels like the beginning of a new era and it’s exciting to see where we’re gonna go.”
The Ossuary Lens is out now via Metal Blade Records. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS120 here:
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