Stooge After feeling under-whelmed by The Great Misdirect and being not-to-enthused after listening to the Parallax I EP, BTBAM have definitely got my interest again with Parallax II.

I don't nerd out over concept albums like some music fans, and I couldn't begin to tell you what the theme of the album is despite hearing it several times. More obvious to me is the call-backs made to previous musical themes explored on the album, and other details that serve as meaningful audio connections to provide fluidity. The mellow "Goodbye to Everything" bookends the album (not a conceptual prerequisite, but a nice touch), and a brief bit of so-called alien noise on "Autumn", as well as a narrative (by Amos Williams of Tesseract) on "Parallax" serve as effective bridges.

BTBAM gets tons of credit for being "progressive", and with this album, I'm inclined to both agree and disagree. I listen to the band explore all sorts of terrain and tempos in "Lay Your Ghosts To Rest" and "Silent Flight Parliament". However, it still feels like they've done it all before. After their previous disappointments, that fact bothered me. In this case, no so much. Despite the extended running lengths of the songs making up the core of the album, they come across to me as very organic.

In my opinion, BTBAM live and die by not by their instrumental gymnastics (which are never really lacking), but by their melodic content and willingness to fully commit to the style of music they tackle within a particular section the song. Factors such as this provide some of their freshest and most enduring material since Colors.

Some of my favorite moments:

"Astral Body", which begins with a rather catchy Dream Theater-ish instrumental section, with Tommy Rogers joining the proceedings where he blends both clean and growled vocals to good effect. A highly contagious tune with a strong energy!

The song that got me to shell out my hard-earned cash was "Telos". A track like this gives a good summation of what BTBAM are all about. It begins with the hardcore aggression the band was founded on, gradually changing rhythmic motifs before entering the mellow mid-section that truly caught my ear. A looping keyboard passage acts as the background to a bit of a laid-back, spacy jazz/rock fusion, building it's way towards a heavy but harmonic conclusion.

The midsection to "Melting City" includes a brief but delightful cameo of some flute, and contains not one but two very different but equally memorable solos by guitarist Paul Waggoner. Bassist Dan Briggs (one of my favorites in modern metal) provides magnificent support throughout this song.

As a very strong album that exceeded my expectations, I see no harm in giving Parallax II a 4.5 out of 5.

Sheavy "Everythings a novelty..."

This is the first whole album I have listened to from BTBAM, the only other contact I have had with this band is the song Alaska and More Of Myself To Kill.

With this being said I will know procede to blabber about this album like a good new fanboy would. This is very far from your average Metalcore band like As The Blood Runs Black or similar, BTBAM manage to pack an absolute ton of musical ideas into this release without it ever losing focus. All of the transitions into other styles of music are also done extremely expertly and smoothly. I still have no clue how BTBAM manages to make all the transitions so natural sounding, because they never ever sound out of place.

The muscianship is above top notch, everything from blast-beating to soft jazz is played with amazing precision and expertise.

I will refrain from saying anything much about the music specifically so as not to ruin your musical adventure contained within this album. Hopefully you will be as amazed with this album (and band) as I was.

UMUR "Between the Buried and Me" is the self-titled debut full-length studio album by progressive/ experimental metal act Between the Buried and Me. I´ve only sporadically listened to their later efforts but I´ve read many praising reviews of "Alaska (2005)" and especially "Colors (2007)". That´s gotten me a bit curious and I´ve decided to review Between the Buried and Me´s albums from an end starting with this debut.

The music on the album is a mix of melodic metalcore, inspired as most metalcore acts are, by the melodic Swedish Gothenburg death metal sound and American hardcore which means that there are lots of hardcore elements in the sound as well as melodic metal parts. Lots of heavy breakdowns and extreme vocals in all styles. Take a pick. Deep growling, higher pitched screaming raw vocals and hardcore vocals, strange pig squeals and a few sections with clean vocals (I even heard a Rob Halford-like vocal part around the three minute mark in "Aspirations"). The album is often critizised for not being compositionally developed enough but I´m sure that critique is best understood if you compare the album to later releases by the band. Even though I don´t think that the album has any truly outstanding tracks the compositions are as good as most other bands in the genre. I don´t hear anything below standard on this album. I actually think there are more than one riff that kicks ass on the album. In addition to the more powerful and heavy sections on the album there are also some very melodic leads and several acoustic parts too.

The playing is technically challenging and the musicianship is excellent. Tight interplay and great performances all around.

The production is powerful but lacks a bit during the acoustic parts and the drums also have a bit of a strange sound. It´s pretty professional and solidly produced though.

I think "Between the Buried and Me" is a pretty good debut album by Between the Buried and Me and it deserves a 2.5 - 3 star rating. It might be pretty average for the genre but that doesn´t mean it´s not a quality product. I´ll be looking forward to listening to more albums by the band.

J-Man North Carolina's Between the Buried and Me have been on quite a bit of a hot streak lately, releasing a long line of successful albums over the last few years. 2007's Colors and 2009's The Great Misdirect are particularly well regarded in the prog and metal communities - and with good reason. Both albums are shining examples that progressive metal and metalcore can work together productively, and have frequently been regarded as masterpieces by fans of either genre. With The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues, the band's latest EP and first outing on Metal Blade Records, they've begun an ambitious concept, to which this EP serves as part one. The concept here deals with two humans that are separated by several million light years, and how they both face similar issues in their life that they must resolve. It'll be interesting to hear how the band continues this intriguing concept with the next installment. As this 30-minute, three-song EP currently stands, it's yet another fantastic release in Between the Buried and Me's already excellent discography, and an essential purchase to all fans of the band. Although not quite as great as their previous full-lengths (in my opinion, at least), The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues is a more-than-worthy EP to add to your collection. These guys simply show no sign of slowing down, and it'll definitely be interesting to hear how they follow this one up!

The music on The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues is unquestionably Between the Buried and Me's distinct blend of metalcore and progressive metal, but possibly a bit more brutal and eclectic than their previous album. There seems to be a large focus on dissonance on this EP - something present on the band's previous efforts, but not quite as prominent as it is here. Melodic sections and quirky instrumentals do creep up quite a bit, though, and keep the music from ever growing stale. Compositionally, the album is extremely strong, and features some of the band's finest material to date. The first track, "Specular Reflection", opens up The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues in full form. This epic, 11 and a half minute opus highlights Between the Buried and Me's more dissonant side, while also showcasing melodic sections with clean vocals as well as a very progressive song structure. "Augment of Rebirth" is a bit more of a heavy track, sporting plenty of brutal technicalities and harsh vocals. A few weird, almost circus-sounding sections also present here - "eclectic" is a fair word to describe this track, I guess. "Lunar Wilderness", while still quite heavy in parts, is the softest song on the EP. Plenty of beautiful melodies and warm arrangements make this an excellent closing track.

Of course, as we're used to from Between the Buried and Me, the musicianship is professional and spectacular across the board. These guys are technical behemoths, so certainly no complaints are warranted in that department. I do have an issue with how The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues is produced, however. It's mixed way too loudly and sounds quite sterile and lifeless, especially during the heavier sections. It really lacks warmth and depth, if you ask me.

Despite my complaint regarding the production, The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues is overall a very successful effort from Between the Buried and Me. This isn't the best entry point into their discography, but it's an exceptional EP that serves as an essential purchase to all established fans of the band. 4 stars are very well deserved here. If super-technical, super-brutal, super-complex, and super-original progressive extreme metal is what you're looking for, then I can't recommend this one highly enough. Between the Buried and Me are considered one of the forerunners of modern metal, and this EP is even more proof that they've wholeheartedly earned that title!

Wilytank Between the Buried and Me have established themselves well with their proggy metalcore influence starting with Colors (which I personally enjoy). So what stands out about this album?

Nothing really.

Everything heard on this EP has pretty much done before by this band, which kinda worries me because that would mean that they are running out of ideas. The ideas here could have easily been found on Colors and probably The Great Misdirect.

I felt that the first two songs just went in one ear and out the other. The chaotic, weirdly structured song works were tried on me with Deathspell Omega's Paracletus and they didn't work. The same idea didn't work here for me either. "Lunar Wilderness" is easily the best track here because it's the easiest to follow even if it still has elements of the aforementioned formula.

I don't necessarily hate this EP, but it seems extremely lacking. Just get their full lengths instead.