Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Between the Buried and Me - Colors review (4.5 stars), 9 Sep 2007
Since 2000, North Carolina's `Between the Buried and Me' (BTBAM) have forged their own brand of highly complex heavy music that explores the full range of metal sub-genres as well as mixing in elements of progressive rock, psychedelica and indie rock. `Colors' is the bands fifth release and their most impressive. Whereas previous releases just dipped into other genres, on `Colors', BTBAM delve deep inside these genre's and make them their own. From just looking at the number of tracks (8) and the album length (64 mins), one can tell that `Colors' is going to be an album of epic proportions.
`Colors' starts of with a softly played, dark piano melody which is accompanied by soft vocals reminiscent of Thom Yorke. Just before the minute mark there is an explosion of sound with a disorientating arpeggio-heavy keyboard solo and pounding drumwork. An Opeth-esque melodic death soundscape then ensues and launches the band into one of the albums heaviest tracks `B, The Decade of Statues'. Rasping vocals, lightning speed melodies, frantic drumwork and blastbeats which sound like audio bombs prevail in this deathgrind assault but Arcturus like prog-piano workouts and Cave-In like vocals/melodies join the fray to create an stylistically varied track that keeps the listeners on his/her toes. Immediately in the following track `Informal Gluttony', listeners are greeted to a tribal ethnically rooted drum and guitar workout that sounds like Niles finest. The track descends into an ultra brutal slice of complex deathgrind which is broken up by elements of soft vocals and harmonious melodies . A great element about this album is that all the tracks are joined at the hip and therefore you are really getting one meandering 64minute track to dig into. The quality of the arrangement prevails on this release as the melodic/heavy elements are continuously and complexly switching in order to avoid fatigue and keep things interesting by accentuating the heaviness of the music.
Tracks like `Ants of the Sky', `Prequel to the Sequel' and epic closer `White Walls' really showcase the depth, range and sheer technical ability of this band which is seriously off the hinge. `A sonic labyrinth of grand proportion' says the press release and it is spot on. To describe the range and breadth of styles and the technicality of the composition in just these three tracks would take at least 2 pages, suffice to say these tracks (and the album as a whole) embodies a highly charged and explosive maelstrom of heavy music which simultaneously and seamlessly compounds and interlaces elements of progressive rock, brutal deathgrind, choppy mathcore, sumptuous indie rock and disorientating melodic deathmetal. Seriously, they totally shred, they redefine the landscape of heavy music and push the bar higher for other bands. BTBAM are one of those special bands that play in such a way that you think their instruments are out of control and running away from them yet they are masters of instrumanipulation and continuously inject new and interesting melodies and motifs to spark energy and to invoke the processing power of ones cerebral.
One of the key attributes of this release is its production. Jaime King (veteran of past BTBAM releases) takes things up a notch with `Colors' resulting in a lavish and sonically complex album which benefits from possessing a wide soundstage. The drumwork is one of the strongest elements of the production and sounds like it is constantly moving across and up and down your speakers. The rich production amazingly does not detract from the rawness and brutality of the heavy parts.
Ultimately, If you like ultra heavy, chinstrokingly complex music which, instead of sticking to one style and plundering it to death, moves constantly to and fro to produce some of the most brutal and complex `call to arms' metal whilst concurrently crafting seriously infectious prog melodies and softer rock compositions that surpass many of bands specializing in these genre's, then this album is for you.
For fans of: Arcturus, In Flames, Dillinger Escape Plan, Gordian Knot, The Red Chord, Opeth
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Between The Buried And Me - Colors, 13 Mar 2008
A quick briefing of this North Carolina five piece shows a short but extremely successful career that has seen 3 full length albums which were received by fans and press alike with nothing but pure adulation. This adulation wasn't down to them being an easily marketable flash-in-the-pan fad band (hello Panic! At The Disco) that could be spread across the front cover of `Kerrang!' magazine week in week out, it was based upon an appreciation of pure musical mastery that brought in death metal, jazz, classical and countless other styles of music, all of which was then mixed into a seething, dissonant froth that exploded into your ears at every possible angle.
`Colors' is an album that would have to go to ridiculous lengths to wow us again, such was the force of their previous material. To put simply, it does everything Between The Buried And Me mastered in previous albums and then multiplies it by infinitum. It is simply staggering.
There is just so much going on that on first listen it becomes almost impossible to process everything. What is obvious, however, is that the songs take on a much more progressive element in relation to their earlier efforts. `White Walls' is this albums `Selkies: The Endless Obsession' except that it is about 7 (yes, seven) minutes longer. This band has always prided themselves on their constant time changes and this album does this more so than ever before.
To throw in a bit of negativity in this otherwise glittering review, `Colors' is guilty sometimes of taking things that little bit too far. Despite the overwhelming musical ability on show, the songs at times become a tad too self-indulgent; losing the intensity that is otherwise on offer for most of the album. Bizarrely titled `Ants Of The Sky', at times shreds and shreds away without anything memorable really happening, which makes it easy to lose concentration on what is happening.
With that said, it shouldn't take much away from what is one of the most ambitious records ever produced. At times the record is downright hilarious, with country and western vibes being thrown right in the middle of a searing death metal attack, whilst the jazz-infused breakdowns provides groove some bands could only dream about. Every song is linked to the next in some way or another, making the album sound like one ridiculously long song. And when the music is as phenomenally technically proficient as it is, that is no easy feat.
To sum up, whatever style of music may take your fancy, you need to hear this record. You could love it, you could hate it, or it could just change your life.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jaw droppingly good, 3 Jan 2008
This album is the best album of 2007 without a shadow of a doubt, however no song on this album should be listened to individually as the album reads like a book, and takes you on a journey to exotic lands. Am I right in suggesting track 3's intro 'sounds like ancient egypt', whilst another track with it's tribal drums sounds like you are walking through a jungle. Standout tracks for me are informal gluttony, ants of the sky, prequel to the sequel, my personal fave white walls, viridian and sun of nothing. but seriously every track owns, each sounding like a million different songs culminating into one big song. I love this cd, it could well be album of the decade.
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