Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Between The Buried And Me - Between the Buried and Me CD (album) cover

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME

Between The Buried And Me

 

Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

3.09 | 108 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Dapper~Blueberries
Prog Reviewer
4 stars In the early 2000s Progressive Metal was hitting its stride pretty well. Dream Theater was huge, Opeth right next to them, and bands like Mastodon and Gojira were breaking the mold in fun and innovative ways. However, one band stuck out from the rest. Every other band had a distinct style, but none were more distinct in their playing, styles, musicianship, and love for their craft as Between The Buried and Me were.

Between The Buried and Me is one of my favorite bands ever conceived. To me this band has made some of the greatest albums ever made by man, one of them I think is down right perfect, but every flame has to have a lighter and for a band like Between The Buried and Me, that lighter must be huge, and huge it was. You see Between The Buried And Me weren't always Prog Metal, they were actually metalcore. They still are, definitely by their fast riffs, their chaotic sounds, and their more hardcore punk exterior, but with their first release it was more apparent, but my god this album is seriously under appreciated, and definitely one I'd like to talk about. Their self-titled album is a great start for one of the best bands ever, and I think it is high time that it deserves some needed love and attention.

The album starts immediately strong with More Of Myself To Kill. It instantly showcases what the band knows how to do, and that is to create hard hitting music that is as aggressive as it is awesome. Heck in this exact same song we get some small snippets of what the band would later be loved for, the switch in tempos, the somber yet brutal lyricism, and those beautiful ballads in between. Likewise this also showcases Tommy Roger's vocals, and right now it sadly isn't at its peak, but at the age of 22, it isn't bad, it just needs improvement and with later works it definitely has improved. All in all for a first song this is impressively made and definitely a classic among the band.

Next up is Arsonist. This is a pure heavy song, no filler, no additions, just raw metalcore at its finest. The strums are heavy, and lyrics of angels bathing in blood and the horrid people in religious texts showcase the band's boldness in their songwriting that'll continue throughout the 21st century. Everything feels so angry and aggressive that it's a little intimidating the first go around, but after a few times it only gets better and better. Just an awesome song.

Aspirations continues the threshold of heaviness while also adding a little bit of power metal to the mix, giving the sound a more fast paced and action like feel. I do however have to bring up Tommy's vocals again, this'll be the last time but here it's a little more apparent that at the moment of this album's release, his screamo was weak, and in this track it's really noticeable by how less attuned it is with the music playing and it's almost hard to hear what he is saying half the time due to how screechy it sounds. Definitely a mere problem of its time, but definitely one worth looking at when taking a critical look at an album that came out 20 years ago. Other than the vocals, the song is pretty good.

After that is What We Have Become. It continues planting the progressive seeds More Of Myself To Kill had and does so by showcasing a more technical side of things from the band. An increasing amount of tempo and riff changes on a dime to really make the song feel fast paced and intense. It's like a roller coaster through a blazing hell and I absolutely adore it.

Up next is Fire For A Dry Mouth. As you'd expect it's more intense and heavy metal that really kicks you down to size, but this definitely would be a good time to probably catch a break from the intensity this album brings. The best heavy metal albums I have heard are the ones that can slow time, take a breather, and let the listener not feel too overwhelmed. Here though we don't really get that. There is not a single song on the album that really doesn't let the listener breathe, and that is definitely an apparent issue that it has. While I do love my super heavy, fast paced, and super brutal heaviness, a little lightweight can do wonders for an album. Other than that, this song is perfectly fine.

Naked By The Computer is next up, and for this I'd like to take a little closer look at the lyrics. Many Between The Buried and Me songs have an aura of sadness and despair. For an aggressively heavy band, in any context these songs have lyrics that are depressing. It is almost like a conjoined effort with the 2nd and 4th stages of grief. It adds a level of overwhelming emotions this band creates, and for this album, and especially this song talking about grief in a broken up abusive relationship, it really creates a foreboding shield around the listener that is as interesting as it is horroring.

The next song is The Use of a Weapon. This is one of the more progressive songs from the album. It's still what we know and like from this album, but it allows itself to take the seeds that were sown from the last few proggy tracks and makes it work even more. I can even feel as though this is the real start to BTBAM and their usual style of music. It is technical with a ton of virtuosity, and that is something I love dearly.

And lastly is Shevanel Cut A Flip, the first sorta longer song the band has made. I sorta lied when I said that this album has not any breathing moments because this song is essentially that. It is less hardcore metal and more like a somber rock ballad. It's almost like a calm after the storm, as if after a long brutal beating, it stops and realizes the pain in which it has done. Not saying the album is painful, but it's definitely brutal. It's a lot more clearer, a lot more reflective, and definitely shows off the band's equal parts expertise on creating a slower and methodical track. This 9 minute slow song is one of the many perfect finale acts this band has put forth in their discography, and I think perfectly ends this pretty great album.

I definitely really enjoy this album, it's so heavy and hard hitting that going through it feels like a rollercoaster. It's not for everyone and there are definitely things that improve later in the band's career, like the screaming, the progressive aspects, and the lack of any real breaks definitely makes it a little less attuned to what the band will create next, but the seeds are clearly there. If you love metalcore and or Prog Metal then this is a pretty good album to check out, there are better, but this wouldn't be a bad introduction to the band.

Dapper~Blueberries | 4/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.