Album Review: Between the Buried and Me - The Blue Nowhere
Reviewed by Rob Barker
Between the Buried and Me are one of those bands whose sound has evolved and grown well as time has gone on. I know the earlier band catalogue better, but that’s not to say that their stuff post-Colours is to be frowned at; quite the opposite actually. In a way, BTBAM have the sound that I thought (and, quite frankly, hoped) Dream Theater had before I actually heard Dream Theater. Amazing progressive structures, extremely technical playing – sometimes, admittedly, to the point of showoffyness, but at the same time its very nature leads down a non-too-serious path which makes it not only forgivable, but actually pretty fun. The Blue Nowhere continues this feeling, it’s a very fun listen from start to finish, but on the other side of the coin, not without its heaviness, brutal moments, and outright stunning production for people not just wanting silliness.
Things We Tell Ourselves in the Dark starts us off in a mad carnival of sound. It’s not without its Avenged Sevenfold vibe, and shows off everything you would want from a BTBAM record from the very start with signature technical runs and crazy rhythmic blasts abound, along with plenty ofswitches between the more practiced clean vocals of BTBAM’s later albums, and the classic BTBAM deathcore vocals of The Silent Circus / Alaska eras. We continue to God Terror with a dark electronica inspired second track drawinginspiration from Aphex Twin and Ire Works era Dillinger Escape Plan.
Not that it took this long into the album to appreciate this, but The Blue Nowhere really showcases, once again, just what a talented bunch of musicians BTBAM are. Their technical ability alone is enough to inspire awe in just about anybody, and their ability to craft genuinely amazing music without It just being scales and sweeps for the sake of it is so good. This is especially true with Absent Thereafter’s speed-metal playing, with plenty of saying “cool” out loud moments, before transcending into a mountaintop-standing-on-with-hair-being-blown-about level of guitar solo in what could spell the end of the track, but we’ve actually got another 6 minutes to go; a real epic with twists and turns in every direction.
An atmospheric and somewhat haunting offering next with Pause, creating an interesting shift from the bouncy ball-pit of chaos that is the majority of Blue Nowhere so far. There is an almost a musical theatre feel to this track, and for a noticeably shorter one compared to thus far, it’s not just a “random sound interlude” track that many bands fall into the trap of slinging on their albums seemingly just to pad out the time. Pause leads into Door #3 very nicely, bringing back the general mood of the album, before shifting again into Mirador Uncoil, reminiscent of Stolen Babies’ style of kooky circus metal, and manages to remain fun without being irritating!
Psychomantium is definitely one of the more heavy and sinister sounding tracks of the album, and a closer feel to the “classic” BTBAM as previously mentioned. This was my favourite track of the album, and is a great contrast between the multiple styles of the band. Slow Paranoia sounds like if Mike Patton was singing tunes from a math-metal sequel to Nightmare Before Christmas in another of my favourite tracks.
The penultimate and title track, The Blue Nowhere comes in next, with what is certainly one of the less blisteringly heavy tracks, but by no means doesn’t go hard when it goes. Mostly clean vocals lilting over incredible musicianship, again continuing the metal musical theatre feel as mentioned before. Beautifully Human finishes continuing the emotion of the title track into an epic finale worthy of this album.
Absolutely a “they’ve done it again” release by one of the most creative and diverse bands in progressive metal. It’s a long one, most of the tracks coming in at well over the 7-minute mark and a few making it towards the 11-plus area, but it’s such an interesting listen with its twists, turns, attacks, technical breakdowns and ability to remain exciting that it does the opposite of drone on. Go listen.
Reminded Me Of – The Devin Townsend Project; Thank You Scientist; Protest the Hero; Animals As Leaders
