THE GREAT MISDIRECT

The new release of the ever so hyped band Between the Buried and Me is finally here, following their 2007 power-house "Colors", which truly opened my eyes to this strangely ambivalent band. The reason why I say ambivalent is not in the sense that the music is surprising or confused, the ambivalence to me lies in the absurd contrasts that are at conflict within each BtBaM album.

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