BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME

"Between the Buried and Me" is the self-titled debut full-length studio album by progressive/ experimental metal act Between the Buried and Me. I´ve only sporadically listened to their later efforts but I´ve read many praising reviews of "Alaska (2005)" and especially "Colors (2007)". That´s gotten me a bit curious and I´ve decided to review Between the Buried and Me´s albums from an end starting with this debut.

The music on the album is a mix of melodic metalcore, inspired as most metalcore acts are, by the melodic Swedish Gothenburg death metal sound and American hardcore which means that there are lots of hardcore elements in the sound as well as melodic metal parts. Lots of heavy breakdowns and extreme vocals in all styles. Take a pick. Deep growling, higher pitched screaming raw vocals and hardcore vocals, strange pig squeals and a few sections with clean vocals (I even heard a Rob Halford-like vocal part around the three minute mark in "Aspirations"). The album is often critizised for not being compositionally developed enough but I´m sure that critique is best understood if you compare the album to later releases by the band. Even though I don´t think that the album has any truly outstanding tracks the compositions are as good as most other bands in the genre. I don´t hear anything below standard on this album. I actually think there are more than one riff that kicks ass on the album. In addition to the more powerful and heavy sections on the album there are also some very melodic leads and several acoustic parts too.

The playing is technically challenging and the musicianship is excellent. Tight interplay and great performances all around.

The production is powerful but lacks a bit during the acoustic parts and the drums also have a bit of a strange sound. It´s pretty professional and solidly produced though.

I think "Between the Buried and Me" is a pretty good debut album by Between the Buried and Me and it deserves a 2.5 - 3 star rating. It might be pretty average for the genre but that doesn´t mean it´s not a quality product. I´ll be looking forward to listening to more albums by the band.