Album Reviews : Between The Buried And Me – The Parallax II: Future Sequence

I was once a passing Between the Buried and Me fan, but my interest dissipated after the release of 2007’s Colors. Things just got a bit too metal and stale for me (I am not a man who can stomach triggered drums, over-compressed guitars or one-mood metal music for extended periods of time).

But some five years later I am pleased to rejoin the band on their outstanding new album The Parallax II: Future Sequence.

With The Parallax II, Between the Buried and Me have successfully avoided the trappings of most modern metalcore and progressive metal. This isn’t an album that simply rehashes riffs and songs we’ve all heard a hundred times before – nor is it an exercise in directionless technical shredwank in total absence of tasteful songwriting. If nothing else, The Parallax II clearly demonstrates the band’s excellent songwriting skills and clarity of vision.

And the production? The production is splendid. This is not another cold, scooped, compressed, beat-replaced metal record devoid of all soul and human feeling. The sounds here are fat, full and warm, boasting a surprising dynamic range. This is the nicest production treatment the band have had to date.

But perhaps the biggest surprise on the album is the outstanding vocal work of Tommy Giles Rogers. Older BTBAM albums  have been almost entirely guitar-driven – but some of the most memorable sections on The Parallax II are actually those  driven by Tommy’s powerful vocal hooks and tasteful clean singing.

Maybe I haven’t been paying enough attention, but this is not at all what I expected. Between the Buried and Me have embraced classic progressive rock as never before, greatly matured in their songwriting ability, and addressed their musical weaknesses. Perhaps a little of the albums 72 minutes could have been culled, but all in all this is a profoundly impressive return for BTBAM, and another clear highlight for heavy music in 2012.

To the thousands of dreary, bland moshcore fools and shredwank proggers: please take note. Between the Buried and Me are here to show you how it’s done.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi_TafYAcd8&version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0&w=480&h=360]

Band: Between the Buried and Me
Album: The Parallax II: Future Sequence
Year: 2012
Genre: Progressive metal
Label: Metal Blade Records
Origin: North Carolina, USA
http://www.betweentheburiedandme.com/

Track-list:

1. Goodbye to Everything
2. Astral Body
3. Lay Your Ghosts to Rest
4. Autumn
5. Extremophile Elite
6. Parallax
7. The Black Box
8. Telos
9. Bloom
10. Melting City
11. Silent Flight Parliament
12. Goodbye to Everything Reprise