Between the Buried and Me

[ariich]

I liked your short, to the point, cutting review.

I've written very few reviews on RYM, but that was one I felt compelled to do.

[me7]

Reviews such as this make me curious about albums...

[Buddyhunter1]

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/true_symphonic_rockestra/concerto_in_true_minor/

The other review on there is pretty great too.

[faizoff]

I can't stop listening to the new album. Human is Hell is crushing it as the closer, the melody is now stuck in my head.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I don't mean to come off sounding like I'm defending those people not being into metal, listening to BTBAM and rating it low, but I can kinda see both sides of it. For my own music exploration, I often turn to the RYM charts to see what's new and what has people talking. An album with a high rating in a genre I'm not familiar with is interesting and might have me check it out - but there's obviously times when it doesn't work for me and I end up feeling underwhelmed. Simply because you can't like everything and some things won't 'work' for you.

But for me the key difference is you don't need to give something a 0.5 or 1 star rating just because it's not your thing.

Agreed. I've rated over 4,000 albums on RYM and only once ever given something 0.5 stars.

Now you are making me feel bad about handing out 8 0.5 star ratings 

Although I feel they all deserve it. Out of the over 2000 ratings I have on RYM, I guess it's not that bad.

[ThatOneGuy2112]

.

[ariich]

If something is just not my thing, I tend to try and take a more objective approach about it if I want to rate it. But more often than not, there's a huge difference between "this isn't for me" and "I actively dislike this". There are a lot of people who just don't envisage a difference between the two. I guess it's maybe more convenient and less time-consuming to default to hyperbolic stances like that, but I could never get behind the mindset. There is loads of stuff that I know isn't for me. Doesn't mean I'll throw it in the bin and call it a day.

Completely agree. Or rather, I wouldn't say I take a more "objective" approach as it's all subjective, but I can recognise and appreciate the elements I like even if the thing isn't really my cup of tea. That's partly why the vast majority of my ratings are 3 stars (decent) or higher.

[hefdaddy42]

Yeah, this new album is fantastic thus far (in the midst of my first listen).  As expected.

[wolfking]

Anyone have any clue why the CD isn't out until October?  I always love listening to my fav bands new albums when buying the CD but there's no way I'm waiting til then.

[faizoff]

I believe they were having issues with printing CDs and Vinyl editions hence the delay.

[wolfking]

I believe they were having issues with printing CDs and Vinyl editions hence the delay.

Thanks mate.

[Pettor]

Been spinning this beast for days now.

Favorite moments:

Intro of Monochrome
Great start of the album. Classic BTBAM to start this way but it's great!

2:13 in Double Helix
That damn break hits like a bulldozer!

4:45 in Revolution in Limbo
Holy god those growls are heavy

5:50 in Revolution in Limbo
I mean ofc it is. How can you not love that wonderful French restaurant drinking wine vibe?!

1:30 in Fix the Error
Cow bells and drums solos including Mike Portnoy. Yes please!

2:09 in Never Seen / Future Shock
Such a cool little medieval thing transcend into that "We multiply" part that's just wonderful.

2:00 in Stare Into The Abyss
Well I guess it's the whole song really. But the build up really hits here.

1:20 in Prehistory
Such a wakky crazy thing! Reminds me of Bloom from Parallax.

There's tons of more stuff in the songs after but my mind still doesn't fully grasp the last pieces.

[Buddyhunter1]

I love the "in order to connect and forget..." section at the end of Bad Habits. The rest of the song is pretty unmemorable but that's one of the most whimsical moments of the album. Tommy's clean vocals are surprisingly good there, too.

[Zantera]

The whole album is fantastic but in a funny way, one of my favorite parts of the album is the 'Sleep On, Fly On' reprise and the climax of Bad Habits which kinda mirrors my favorite clean moment of the original colors which is the 'Sleep On, Fly On' moment of Ants to the Sky.

[me7]

I find it easier to list the parts that are not awesome:

- Double Helix of Extinction is a bit too one sided for my taste
- the folky hook in Bad Habits is repeated too often without variation

That's it. The rest is amazing.

[Sacul]

Don't make me start one, cuz it will finish once Covid is over

So, never! 

Yeah, and I'm kinda busy at the moment with work and trying to keep up with college. Maybe in a few months I'll give it a try with something simple and short

[Elite]

I listened to this album for the first time just now and I thought it was a rather strange ride, for lack of a better word. It wasn’t an exhausting listen at all, like I think Coma Ecliptic and the Parallax II is, but the main thing I was thinking while listening to this record was .. why? Why would they want to make a Colors II? And why is this it? Apart from the (very few on first listen) callbacks to the first Colors, this could have been any other BTBAM album and that would have been fine as well. I didn’t take note of all the track names, but I think I enjoyed The Future is Behind Us and Bad Habits most. The final track was a strange (there’s that word again) closer, if I may say so. Will definitely listen again, because there was a lot to take in!

[Zantera]

I listened to this album for the first time just now and I thought it was a rather strange ride, for lack of a better word. It wasn’t an exhausting listen at all, like I think Coma Ecliptic and the Parallax II is, but the main thing I was thinking while listening to this record was .. why? Why would they want to make a Colors II? And why is this it? Apart from the (very few on first listen) callbacks to the first Colors, this could have been any other BTBAM album and that would have been fine as well. I didn’t take note of all the track names, but I think I enjoyed The Future is Behind Us and Bad Habits most. The final track was a strange (there’s that word again) closer, if I may say so. Will definitely listen again, because there was a lot to take in!

It's the best albums since Colors so I think it's worthy of the name! 

[Elite]

Well, on some given days I prefer The Great Misdirect to Colors, but I can see why you say that (I think).

[Buddyhunter1]

Bad Habits might grow on me a little

Yeah I think Bad Habits is actually my favorite song on the album now. It took a handful of listens for me to accommodate to the structure, but I really like the proggy, whimsical vibe it has. Doesn't quite feel like anything the band's done before.

Also can't complain about another groovy cowbell breakdown (that's four in the discography now, five if you include the drum solos from Fix The Error? )

[JLa]

Listening to Colors II after reading some raving reviews. What can I say, the music is stunningly amazing, but man do I have a hard time adjusting to those harsh vocals. I like some death metal so it's not that I don't like harsh vocals at all, but these vocals sound more like screaming, it's really exhausting to listen to.

Annoyingly, the clean vocals are brilliant as well! Why couldn't they have used that throughout!

Huh. I'll give it a few more listens and hope I can get used to it, because as I said, I really dig the music!

[Pettor]

Listening to Colors II after reading some raving reviews. What can I say, the music is stunningly amazing, but man do I have a hard time adjusting to those harsh vocals. I like some death metal so it's not that I don't like harsh vocals at all, but these vocals sound more like screaming, it's really exhausting to listen to.

Annoyingly, the clean vocals are brilliant as well! Why couldn't they have used that throughout!

Huh. I'll give it a few more listens and hope I can get used to it, because as I said, I really dig the music!

Haha you sound like me when I first heard Color I. Over time I have come to love the harsh vocals and the best vocal moment on Colors II for me is now the guttural in Revolution In Limbo. The idea of doing clean vocals for the less aggressive parts and then going full demon on the "blast your head of" parts are just perfect imo. Playing Lay Your Ghosts to Rest without a demon yelling at me wouldn't work 😅

BTW after several listens to Colors II I am ready to conclude that it will be my second favourite album from BTAM. I currently pick it above Colors I but below Parallax II.

Also thinking about their discography I found a strange comparison to DT that most likely isn't very good but still fun to do:

Colors I is I&W == The album that changed everything.
Parallax II is SFAM == The overall best album (and concept) the band can make with the sound they helped create.
Colors II is ADTOE == A reinterpretation of the initial album but with the modern sound.

[me7]

I feel similar, but I'm not sure that I prefer Future Sequence over Colors II. Still too early for bold claims, but Colors II could end up my favourite.
The band had some missteps in recent years and this is a return to form, but they did not step back, quite the opposite. All the new ground covered since Future Sequence is still here, just executed a lot better.

[fadetoblackdude7]

I feel similar, but I'm not sure that I prefer Future Sequence over Colors II. Still too early for bold claims, but Colors II could end up my favourite.
The band had some missteps in recent years and this is a return to form, but they did not step back, quite the opposite. All the new ground covered since Future Sequence is still here, just executed a lot better.

If you’re referring to Coma and Automata as the missteps, I think those are solid albums and still play them regularly. It’s good that they stepped outside the box with those ones, especially Coma.

[Zantera]

Yeah I don't really get the "missteps" part either. While I think Colors II is fantastic and maybe their best since Colors (which is my favorite), I don't consider the last couple of albums to be that different to each other. Musically this isn't really any different than Automata or Coma to me (more harsh vocals than Coma I suppose) but I consider it slightly better because of the songs and the riffs. But it's not like comparing lemon cake to chocolate cake.

[me7]

What I meant was that Coma Ecliptic was a bit too predictable. I like it and listened to it a lot, but it often "achieves prog" by doing the opposite of the obvious. Transitions that you see coming when you know the genre instead of left-field surprises.

Automata is too long in my opinion. There is a great 50min album in there, but certain songs could be edited or reworked into sections instead of separate tracks. Millions is a perfect example of what I dislike about the album. The two part structure doesn't click for me either, I dislike Blot as a stopgag, it's anticlimactic and too long.

[TAC]

Will be checking out BTBAM

They are incredible.

Start with Voice of Trespass

That's not one of their albums listed on wiki. I thought I'd start at the beginning.

Don't do that.  Colors, or Parallax 1 and 2.  Starting from the start won't go well.

Why? I feel like I should go chronologically.

[Buddyhunter1]

Why? I feel like I should go chronologically.

Do you like metalcore? The first three albums are mostly metalcore. The proggy stuff doesn't really take center stage until Colors.

[TAC]

Why? I feel like I should go chronologically.

Do you like metalcore? The first three albums are mostly metalcore. The proggy stuff doesn't really take center stage until Colors.

What's metalcore?

I'll drop the needle on the first few albums for the hell of it. If they blow that much, I'll just race right through them.

[wolfking]

I'm a huge fan, but even I never really took to the first 3 albums bar a selection of tracks.  These guys exploded with Colors.

[TAC]

Cool. I'll update the thread as I go then.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

I unironically love the debut. The fact that they recorded it live makes it really raw in a way that I find very appealing, and I wish Tommy still had as much variety in his harsh vocals as he did on the early albums.

That said I can't imagine TAC will like it.

[me7]

Colors II still rules 

[Buddyhunter1]

I unironically love the debut. The fact that they recorded it live makes it really raw in a way that I find very appealing, and I wish Tommy still had as much variety in his harsh vocals as he did on the early albums.

That said I can't imagine TAC will like it.

You're back!

I did listen to a bit of the debut for the first time after they played More Of Myself To Kill live last month. It didn't particularly resonate with me but it was more melodic than I was expecting.

[Zantera]

If you're coming into BTBAM as mainly a prog metal fan and maybe you have a hard time with harsh vocals, I don't think you'll find much to love before maybe The Great Misdirect. Even Colors which is my favorite is very heavy on harsh vocals even if it's a progressive metal classic IMO. If Opeth fans recommend Damnation for the anti-harsh vocals crowd, I'd probably say Coma Ecliptic is the closest BTBAM has to that. It's not 100% free from them, but it has a lot more clean vocals compared to their other albums.