Between the Buried and Me

[wolfking]

I miss the rawness of the older stuff.

I think this is my issue with the new song too.

[PROGdrummer]

It's been there but this song is the tipping point for me. It's also a wreck of a song and probably has INO Tommy's weakest harsh vocals I've heard.

Go listen to JFAC 

[hefdaddy42]

lol I really liked this song.

Disjointed?  BTBAM have always had that element.

[Zantera]

It's actually quite a fascinating element that made me appreciate BTBAM when I discovered them, they don't really have any song structures. Sure, there are a few exceptions where a verse is repeated or a theme comes back, and the first two albums (plus maybe some of Alaska) is more structured, but Colors and forward, for the most part the songs start at A and end at B, and everything in between is a random journey.

I think there is disjointed good and disjointed bad. So far BTBAM has stayed within the former, and I hope they don't cross over into the latter with this album.

[Dark Castle]

It's been there but this song is the tipping point for me. It's also a wreck of a song and probably has INO Tommy's weakest harsh vocals I've heard.

Go listen to JFAC 

I do and their music may have sudden shifts but it flows divinely.

[orcus116]

DT found a nice balance between the heavy and the light....the fractured and the melodious.   Beyond that, I  hear no similarities. 

People who hear DT in this (IMO) are simpletons who are making snap judgements based on a 2 second phrasing.     I guess I can get where they are getting it from if I squint.   But it's such a stretch that they become like those people that think the moon landing was fake and wrestling is real.

Easy now. There are little stretches, especially towards the beginning, that resemble the tone and overall musical vocabulary of Petrucci. It could just be the production but if you didn't tell me this was BTBAM and I had to guess I'd probably guess it was Petrucci. Maybe not with DT exactly but it sure doesn't sounds like Dusty and Paul which is a damn shame because they're great guitarists in their own right.

[pain of occupation]

I'd say the DT shadow looms large over The Great Misdirect, only BTBAM are pulling it off slightly better. But yeah, not really a new thing IMO, it's an element that has kinda been in their music for the last couple of albums.

Basically what I was gonna say. TGM was kinda sorta 'Colors goes DT'. this direction isn't exactly new(s).
(For the record, I haven't spun the new song)

[jammindude]

Well IMO your opinion is full of snottiness. I've given the song a couple of listens and I looove both bands, I'm not somebody making rushed judgements. I wish I could explain it better but there's those moments where an instrument will have a quick little solo'ish lick or something that's trying to sound tasty, something Dream Theater does a lot when they're getting heavy into the instrumental part of a song and there's a bunch of points in the song in which BTBAM do it and yuck.


Other non related to the above gripes I have is that the sections in this song are so disjointed and and the song has almost no flow, until the end when it recoups a tiny bit.

I should have put a caveat on this.

Have you ever been around a group of people so long that you figure they "know you".    In person, this is pretty easy.   I have friends that I've known for years, and they get my mannerisms and they know that my occasional bouts of snarkiness are purely tongue in cheek.    I've been part of the DT community for so long, that I often make the leap of faith that everyone should "get me" by now.   But print and text is very different from IRL. 

I assure you that my post was purely made out of hyperbole.    I take mild snobbishness that lives inside of me, and then self-depreciatingly blow it up to Frasier-like proportions (if you're familiar with the TV show Frasier) in order to make fun of myself and always remind myself not to take myself too terribly seriously.

Does that make sense?  Or am I babbling again??   

[Dark Castle]

Bruh, Frasier is one of my all time favorite shows   

[Ultimetalhead]

Was not a fan of the new song. I'll wait for the album to make any sort of "end of days" claims but yeah. The change in direction and less harsh vox scares me a bit. BTBAM has always been cool because of the contrast between the heavy and the light. The ending chorus of Sun of Nothing or Ants of the Sky wouldn't have nearly the same impact without the 8 minutes of insanity building up to it. Likewise, the self-titled doesn't reach me very well because it's all chaos and no contrast. Making a full album of the quieter moments would be pretty damned boring, IMO. I know that's not remotely what they said they were doing, but that's the other extreme.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

BTBAM announced on their Facebook page:

“The Coma Machine” video goes live tomorrow morning. Get Ready.

 

[Randaran]

BTBAM announced on their Facebook page:

“The Coma Machine” video goes live tomorrow morning. Get Ready.

 

I'm so hyped right now.

[wolfking]

That's a different song to the one they have released hey?  Can't even remember what the first one was called haha.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

That's a different song to the one they have released hey?  Can't even remember what the first one was called haha.

Yes, the first one was called "Memory Palace".

[jammindude]

New video is up at the Metal Blade site!   Awesome song, awesome video!   Couldn't be more stoked about this album.   This is the BTBAM album I've been waiting for.   There are still harsh vocals, but I think this album (so far) achieves the perfect balance of clean to harsh that I've been hoping for from them ever since Colors. 

[wolfking]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R40wAZxMsTg

Sounds pretty damn weak to me, but I guess they needed to change things up at some stage.

[Dark Castle]

Better than Memory Palace but only like parts of the song really.

[Dark Castle]

Better than Memory Palace but eh. Does anybody else think Tommy's vocals sound way to dry?

[wolfking]

Better than Memory Palace but eh. Does anybody else think Tommy's vocals sound way to dry?

Everything including his vocals seem to lack so much power and energy. 

[Zantera]

I don't think Tommy has good enough clean vocals to carry the music. And I still love his vocals. In fact, some of my favorite Tommy moments are clean vocals (like the calm part in Ants of the Sky, or the outro to Fossil Genera), but it works so well because it is sparingly used. If they are gonna try to carry this album mainly on his clean vocals, I think we could be heading for a disaster.

[wolfking]

I don't think Tommy has good enough clean vocals to carry the music. And I still love his vocals. In fact, some of my favorite Tommy moments are clean vocals (like the calm part in Ants of the Sky, or the outro to Fossil Genera), but it works so well because it is sparingly used. If they are gonna try to carry this album mainly on his clean vocals, I think we could be heading for a disaster.

I 100% agree with this statement and exactly sums up what I think I'm thinking about the new direction.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Honestly I'm totally down with more clean vocals, since his harshes can get a bit monotonous at times.

[Buddyhunter1]

I don't think Tommy has good enough clean vocals to carry the music. And I still love his vocals. In fact, some of my favorite Tommy moments are clean vocals (like the calm part in Ants of the Sky, or the outro to Fossil Genera), but it works so well because it is sparingly used. If they are gonna try to carry this album mainly on his clean vocals, I think we could be heading for a disaster.

"Disaster" is probably an over-exaggeration, but that is something that stuck out to me from these singles. Tommy's really trying to do a wide variety of vocal styles, and while that's admirable, he simply doesn't have the voice for it.

[Zantera]

I think we got a preview of it on Bloom. I like that song, and Tommy is fine in it, but it's like he thinks he's Mike Patton or something. His voice is good for what he has been doing, but sometimes singers have a certain range and it's not always bad. About the complaint that the harsh vocals are monotonous, his cleans aren't? Again, I like him, but he pretty much has two modes, and the way they changed between them was great. Going from one dominant monotone singing style to another won't change much, except make the music slightly cheesier.

[fadetoblackdude7]

I'm loving what I'm hearing so far from this album.....Tommy's clean vocals are outstanding IMO. Great tones from all the instruments too!

[FlyingBIZKIT]

I'm loving what I'm hearing so far from this album.....Tommy's clean vocals are outstanding IMO. Great tones from all the instruments too!

[jammindude]

I'm loving what I'm hearing so far from this album.....Tommy's clean vocals are outstanding IMO. Great tones from all the instruments too!

This. 

And also, I was never really a fan of Tommy's harsh vocals.   And I *AM* a fan of harsh vocals generally.   I love Mikael's vocals from Opeth, and Jon Tardy from Obituary is one of my all time favorites.   But Tommy's just always sounded way too monotone for me and I kept hoping he would mix it up more and use his harsh vocals more sparingly.     I finally got my wish.

[wolfking]

I think his harsh vocals are amazing.

[WebRaider]

I've always meant to give this band more of a shot. I listen to other bands that are similar and this band is from right around the corner from me so I've had no good reasons not too.

I listened to one song from the new album ("Memory Palace") and there was lots that I really liked. So yeah, I hope they don't upset their hardcore fanbase (like most metal bands tend to do) too badly with this album.

[Zantera]

I think his harsh vocals are amazing.

This, I prefer his harsh vocals to most others. The "monotone" quality of them actually adds to it for me, and makes their heavy sections really heavy.

[ariich]

I think his harsh vocals are amazing.

This, I prefer his harsh vocals to most others. The "monotone" quality of them actually adds to it for me, and makes their heavy sections really heavy.

In general, yeah, but there's something about the production of his vocals on these new songs that feels a little off. Maybe I'll get used to it once the album comes out and I've given it a few spins.

Like the new song. Seems like it'll take time for the album to sink in - not much in the way of immediately memorable melodies like Parrallax had.

[Zantera]

They have been doing it a bit since TGM (though the new album seems to be more of it), but I'm not a fan of BTBAM trying to be DT 2.0. While I would say that DT are down, and another band could swoop in and take over the mantle, it's just not what I want from BTBAM. We already have one DT, we don't need another one. I'm still gonna hold out hope that the new album is good, I don't want another Heritage situation.

[orcus116]

So yeah, I hope they don't upset their hardcore fanbase (like most metal bands tend to do) too badly with this album.

They've already been slowly doing that over the last few albums.

[ZKX-2099]

I've loved both songs so far. And I love Tommy's solo albums as well. So I'm fine with the vocal variety.

Also all the instrumentals are as great as ever. Can't wait for the album.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Don't know how many of you have heard his 2nd solo album, Modern Noise, but I feel like the clean vocals on that album sound a lot like this one, as opposed to the other BTBAM albums.

And I love both songs so far. But I'm probably just a fan boy, I don't really find anything weak about their music.