BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME

Between the Buried and Me combine old school death metal and aggressive hardcore with prog indulgences to create a burst of anger that leaves little room for things to develop. I like well-dosed aggression in music but after being slapped around the ears with it for 5 minutes, I sort of get the point and I'm ready to move on towards more interesting expressions of our mental state.

That doesn't happen enough here, there are scattered occasions where BTBAM tempt us with what they could achieve if they would stop hammering down their one point so continuously. Yes we've got it: you're young, angry and very angry. (Well I admit, that's 3 points they're making)

But it's not just that, my main issue is that the aggressive parts themselves are not good enough: it is known hardcore and thrash metal riffs pasted together with monotonous hardcore shouts and a hyperkinetic Mars Volta-on-speed approach to prog. But don't have your hopes up with this last reference. Never do they reach the level of excellence and creativity that we know that band for.

It's only when they open up their neurotic attack for some more laidback playing that it gets more interesting. Examples can be found around the 5 minute mark into "Obfuscation" or 2 minutes into "Diseas, Injury, Madness". But all too soon, the overstressed metal riffs kick in again and we're submerged under a wall of thrash metal again.

BTBAM has a lot of potential and I'd guess that many youngsters will devour this. For me, less predictable songs would have enhanced it a lot. Another option would be to do karaoke versions of their music. Without vocals this would work a lot better. Given the poor state and creative standstill that the metal scene has suffered from in the last few years, it is no wonder that this album comes floating to the top of all year-lists.

Actually this is a fun hodgepodge of an album! Approach with care though, maybe some of my intitial criticism will still be valid for you. 4 stars. Subject to change...

There are two things I must point out about Between the Buried and Me. As much as I enjoy them, they are not a band for everyone. They are relentlessly brutal most of the time, the music is ridiculously heavy during these moments, and they drew much of their early influence from metalcore (they still do, but it isn't as apparent in their music anymore) which is quite apparent on this release. The second is that they are a band who I honestly don't think can truly disappoint me with whatever kind of music they decide to make. And while their self-titled debut is my least favorite effort by the band so far, I've heard much worse than this. This album is quite good for the right mood, which is a mood where I just want to hardcore dance and/or break stuff by jumping around and running into it. This album for the most part either takes lots of influences from other bands (Pantera is one that comes to mind) or is relentlessly heavy. While BtBaM would later learn to add variation through more clean parts as well as mixing around the heaviness in different ways, this is for the most part fairly technical metalcore with a few progressive tendencies here and there. The best example of this is of course in the final 9:24 track "Shevanel Cut a Flip". The song is so heavy, but incredibly progressive and much more similar to what Between the Buried and Me would do on The Silent Circus and Alaska, two albums in which they would greatly refine their sound. The ending part does drag on a bit for me, but otherwise it's a very good song. The rest are for the most part slightly above yout average metalcore song.

I could stretch it and say this is a 3.5 star album for me, but the production does suffer a bit here. Like most of the music, it's not bad, but it's nothing to be proud of either. So I can't rate this any higher than 3 stars. Good if you want to check out how far Between the Buried and Me have come in the last decade, but not good for much else.

There has never been much debate as to whether or not BtBaM are a metal band, the very distorted vocals and death/black-metal riffs give it away on the first listen if you'd ever care to step back to previous releases. Then they have their softer side, like almost every progressive metal band you'll find that no matter how hard they may try to keep up a metal facade there is always to some degree alot of softer proggy goodness nestling below it all. The thing is though, that with most other bands you'll find that these influences are intertwined, the hard and the soft, but with BtBaM it may be completely different bands playing at times. If you'd care for a brilliant example then trace your way back to "Alaska"(2005) and listen to the title track, the shift from the opening riff to the song is both harmonically and dynamically absurd.

I might have already given away that I embrace this chosen style with a varying degree of enthusiasm, it is very apparent that this is how they want to sound after their recent releases have all followed this particular pattern. Where "Colors" mixed things up with some truly astonishing pieces of music(Ants of the Sky, White Walls I'm looking at you). BtBaM once more fall into their pit of mediocrity with this album.

"The Great Misdirect" begins with one of the greatest opening tracks I have ever heard, once more tricking me into hoping that this might be the one album for me I know that BtBaM could theoretically make... And then the album turns to its second song, Obfuscation, and I felt myself physically cringing at the first sound of vocalist Tommy Rogers growl, or whatever you'd like to call it. To me it sounds basically like the noise I'd imagine a Transformer would make if it died of old age. I am not one of those people who generally dislike growling, screaming or whatever you'd like to call the style, but in Rogers case it's so terribly monotone that I grow tired just thinking about it.

Oh yeah, we were talking about the album.

It sounds like BtBaM, that is the best way to describe "The Great Misdirect"(and also the reason why I give it a 2: Collectors/fans only-rating). There is nothing new here. To me the metal parts just stretch out eternally, I can hear things happening in the background and I understand that there is depth somewhere in there. But with the absolutely pointless over-drumming by Blake Richardson and the drone of Tommy Rogers I lose track of it all and it turns into a blur of sound. The softer parts are as always what keeps pulling me back to this band. At times its so good that I almost forgive their dreadfully boring metal... and then another song begins and I forget about their good side all over again.

But to conclude this review I have to say that when it comes down to it, this is not a bad album. On the contrary, "The Great Misdirect" is a great album by a great band. But to those of us who do not enjoy the style and sound of BtBaM this one will find it just as painful to listen through as their previous works.

2/5

Has BTBAM moved closer to songwriting that fits my taste, or have my tastes evolved to allow me to like this band? Probably a little of both. I'll admit to being one of those people who really disliked anything with cookie monster vocals. Opeth changed that for me, and bands like BTBAM have followed on their coattails and I've been the one to reap the benefits. The key for me is song structure and the dichotomy between the growling vocals and clean passages. No one does it better than Opeth, but BTBAM has come closer for me than any other band to pulling this off successfully. It's as if Gabriel-era Genesis and Death (the band) had two children. The first was named Opeth, the second Between the Buried and Me.

5 stars? Yes. This is as good as it gets.

I failed terribly. Or the music failed, one of these (in worst case even both of these statements) are true, because this music simply didn't make it to me. I've tried to see something here, but just monotone sound here (which is part of this whole death metal thing, which I still didn't get and I'm probably not going to understand it any time soon. What exactly is interesting in repeating brutality, again and again same tone, same sound and melody + ever-present unpleasant [well, it's certainly not pleasant] sound). I'll of course try in future to find something (because I don't like bashing albums, especially this popular albums), but I'm not too optimistic. First track, serving as intro is perfect, but it's not connected to the rest of this album. But what I heard in next is simply wonderful. There's melody, wild, rock melody and connected with death metal growl it doesn't sound so bad. And after this one, this repeats. Varying and changing, but it is here. But sheer relying on overwhelming vocals and sound is here simply too much to be considered as better rated album. This is not album for everyone (in this, all these reviewers (so far, 5 members reviewed and all with 5 star. I've read these reviews and can agree with these words, they're quite well composed revs, but they're wrong in one thing. Even it can be masterpiece for those who love death metal, it fails for others, or is even pain in the (you know) for those who hates it. I can stand it, if there's fair amount of it. It is, almost. But album for everyone, no way) are wrong).

So 2(+), quite pleasing, but I still don't understand why 7 times 5 stars. (31. 10. 2009)

Firstly it has to be pointed out that if you cannot tolerate screaming vocals at all, then this band is not necessarily for you. This album is going to take a beating for this very reason. Also, there is a LOT to take in from this album. It requires iterative listening. And I do think this applies to ALL types of music, even popular music. But this notion particularly applies here, because Between the buried and me can cram a ton of musical ideas within a short time span, and there are some lengthy tracks on this record, too. So before going on a BTBAM rant campaign about how noisy, poorly constructed or self indulgent there music seems (or ranting about any music for any reason for that matter), put you're impartial listening caps on and give it a couple of spins.

There has been a drastic improvement of tone and production quality. Even the more dense guitar riffs similar to that which can be heard from their previous album, colors, are more coherent and audible (relatively speaking [It's still tech/extreme metal after all!]). The bass and Drums also follow suite, and prove that Between the buried and me potentially have the greatest rhythm section in metal today. The lead vocals are pretty much the same deal as colors, although the vocalist proves that he has a versatile singing voice. There are also vocals other than that of the lead singer, such as that from Paul Waggoner and other guest vocalists (swim to the moon).

The great Misdirect is not just a bombardment of in-your-face technical/extreme metal. In-fact, two of the six tracks are far from that, and that the other tracks consist of quieter segments of music. The quite/quirky sections may be labeled contrived or there for the sake of differentiation, but it's hard to deny that these sections are, most importantly, musically tasteful and very fitting. They delve into other genres or styles which ultimately impact on the mood of an entire track (imagine fossil genera without that first section, it just wouldn't be the same!). I do believe this genre exploration is the secret to the bands success, and is justified by the musical brilliance along with how these parts work well within the context of the progressive metal elements.

This really is the greatest progressive (metal) album of 2009. When I think of the many albums that have been released this year, the words "uninspired" or "incredibly overrated" generally come to mind (I need not name albums). this is NOT the case for the Great Misdirect. They have stuck to their guns, but they have also, successfully, refined their sound and pushed the envelope.

This young band has really turned it up in The Great Misdirect. Colors was, in my opinion, completely amazing. But some parts did seem forced and the feel was somewhat mechanical. Now they've progressed to new heights. Everyone in the band is at the top of their game, including the exceptional drumming and bass section courtesy of Blake Richardson and Dan Briggs.

The album is just starting to sink in for me, but I have somewhat of a grasp of what I can write about the album. It's just that mindblowing.

Mirrors is a wonderful, jazzy and very beautiful intro to the album. Tommy's singing is as clean as ever. And the band is tighter and more free flowing than before. Amazing. (10/10)

In comes the metal with Obfuscation. It is as chaotic as it is calculated and is just really awesome. With little proggy interludes everywhere and a groovy guitar solo, this song is just really killer. (10/10)

Now its at this point when I first listened to these two songs and felt: "Wow. Between the Buried and Me sounds great. Doesn't sound very different from Colors, but it's still REALLY awesome." I didn't think they had progressed too much. They clearly had, but it wasn't until the album came out that I got to hear the rest of the songs off the album.

Boom. Disease, Injury, Madness. Comes in with a ton of crushing riffs. I haven't heard Between the Buried and Me as organized as this. Every fits perfectly. The metal is generally easier to handle. Then the gentle, Pink Floyd section of the song. It's so catchy and flows amazingly. This really showed me Between the Buried and Me's progression. I haven't ever heard them like this before. Then some wonderful acoustic guitar leading to more crushing metal. It's as brutal as it was before, but much more organic. It sounds amazing, not to mention some RIDICULOUS drum fills from Blake. (I'm a prog drummer too, and this guy is insane.) Then a catchy blues rock riff, which by itself could be a song. It's pretty driving and energetic. Then with some crazy vocals and blast beats comes a technical section. The song ends pretty abruptly, but what comes next just really blows my mind. (10/10)

Fossil Genera: A Feed From Cloud Mountain. Piano. FRIGGEN PIANOS EVERYWHERE. This is just completely insane! I can't even believe I'm hearing such a piano driven metal riff. Of course, the catchy boppy stylings of Tommy Rogers. Now this song stays pretty dark and demonic for the most part. I ridiculously brutal breakdown really made the song sound crazy. They sound like Dillinger Escape Plan at this point. But, you can slowly hear the prog creeping on, as it hits you right in the face with some interesting mathy riffs. Then in with some energetic intrumentals. An overall cohesiveness, I'm beginning to hear makes this song what it is. Then a simply amazing driving proggy section before the slow ballad leading to the epic ending of the song, I think I'm sold. (10/10)

The wind is blowing slowly and the desert is dry in Desert of Song. The band's redneck/Counting Crows roots come out, in this lovely ballad, featuring Paul Waggoner singing lead! Wicked. Catchy, warm and filled with thick bass lines. The band really shines when they play a ballad. Incredible. The interlude leading into the next song is very nice. (10/10)

What's that I hear? Percussion? Keyboard layers? WOAH. Kick in the face. The band just hammers away with their fast as lightning prog solos. In fact, it sounds somewhat like Mastodon. The band is tighter than ever, firing on all cannons. Tommy doubling his keyboard over the guitar lines and even having lines of his own. Blake Richardson, is just on fire. Pretty long instrumentals. Now what's this? Who's this guy? This guy is Chuck Johnson, the bass player in Dan Briggs sideband, Orbs. His singing is pretty interesting. The riffing here is pretty wicked as well. The band almost sounds like, Dream Theater. If that's not obvious enough. I found an overall DT influence on the majority of the record. But they go from DT, to Mastodon, to Queen! This band is utter genius! Now with some technically well timed Mastodon like grooves leading into an absolutely ridiculous drum solo. Onto a short little guitar break, comes another ridiculous, well executed exotic sounding riff. Which leads into, solos. And more solos. And uh, well more solos. Even I, a huge BTBAM fan, will admit they were a little self indulgent here. But it really only lasts about 4 or 5 minutes. Then a nice buildup to an absolutely disgusting brutal breakdown. I smell some Coalesce. Then the song finishes strong and abruptly with their opening wackiness. (10/10)

Although they soloed a lot on Swim to the Moon, I can really appreciate the direction the band is taking overall on this album. They are becoming a forced to be reckoned with. I know for a fact there was a decent amount of hype for this record. The band is the best they've ever been. Especially Blake. Oh Blake. He's at the top of his game. His riffs are as complicate and original as ever. The band really shines as a whole on this album. With some organized metal riffs and lots of slow ballads. Absolutely amazing, in terms of Prog, this is my album of the year. All in all, It's in 2nd place. But absolutely amazing. Great for any progressive metal fan, the harsh vocals weren't that bad on this album. GET THIS NOW.

Now with the Great Misdirect, I was blown away...i had to listen to it about 3-4 times for it all to sink in, but when it did...i was just in awe, not just with the musicianship, but with everything as a whole. I love every single song, it feels very organic, and to me that is important. it doesnt seem forced at all, as colors, for me, did at times. i'm not going to review each and every track individually. however, i think this is easily the best album released within the past couple years. the direction they are headed in is unprecedented...and who knows where they will take it from here...i mean they are so young. the oldest member is paul waggoner at 30, and amazingly blake is only 25. most bands creating this caliber of music are at least ten years older than they are. I have listened to this album at least 15 times, and it keeps getting better and better each time i listen to it.

I wasn't expecting this album to be much more than a more pretentious colors...but it's different in the sense that it is more advanced and evolved. To my surprise, BTBAM has taken a quantum leap forward from their previous works, and I most certainly feel this is a masterpiece and worthy of a five- star rating.

The first number isn't really heavy as it has clean singing and great intrumetal parts. Despite being just over three minutes, it's still very good! The next piece however is even better and has some killer solos and it is a lot heavier. "Disease, Injury, and Madness" is one that many will like due to the quieter middle section that is very atmospheric and progressive. There's even some nice acoustic guitar thrown in it too. It's one of my favorite's on the album due to it's power and its varying styles. "Fossil Genera" has the most unique intro starting with some quirky piano, leading into the heavy guitars. The vocals are mosyl clean and is another piece that people may like outside this genre. "Desert Of Song" is almost entirely absent of the heavy parts just like the first piece is, and makes for a great acoustic song! The grand finale of the album "Swim to the Moon" is just what you'd expect, with BTBAM throwing in everything into this piece! It makes for a great epic, and is also very technical. It's also my other favorite piece on the album, and it ranges from different moods while still being brutal.

I highly reccomend this album to fans of this genre and even encourage people from the outside to give it a try!