Between the Buried and Me
Vernon Meigs
Issue date: 11/20/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Between the Buried and Me is not a band that you can pin down on one spot musically, especially after sitting through an entire album of theirs. The phrase "there's something in here for everyone" definitely rings true, especially on their latest album The Great Misdirect, released in October.
Between the Buried and Me are influenced by many styles that define their overall sound including extreme metal, progressive rock, alternative pop-rock, classical, and jazz fusion. This is all united under a base that is largely metalcore(the name given to the branch of metal influenced by hardcore punk), which is relatively uncommon in progressive metal music. It is not surprising to hear lighter elements of Pink Floyd, Queen, or Smashing Pumpkins alongside that of the heavier Metallica, Megadeth, or Opeth.
After the critically acclaimed 2007 album Colors, Between the Buried and Me set out on tour and notably performed in the "Progressive Nation '08" festival alongside Dream Theater, Opeth, and 3. The band entered the studio to record their fifth studio album, and have stated in the interim that one of their songs has "a noisy Coalesce breakdown, 3/4 Mastodon groove, 9/8 The Mars Volta, Queen chromatic build up, and Megadeth chorus" as stated in their official website.
The result was The Great Misdirect, consisting of six distinct, diverse songs. The heavy and bombastic metal characteristics are still there with all of their complexities such as speed and technicality, dynamic shifts in time signatures, and blistering solos fused with more lighter, more "mainstream" sounding clean guitar segments.
In the past, they have had influences of classic rock, thrash metal, alternative rock, and jazz, but in this album, there have been newer styles and sounds included, one of them which figures prominently is an almost country sound, sprinkled in songs such as "Disease, Injury, Madness" (complete with a horse's neigh), and the fifth track "Desert of Song" is a slower, laid-back piece from start to finish, with an overall country-style atmosphere. Eccentric elements like polka, however, have been incorporated for the song "Fossil Genera - A Feed from Cloud Mountain."
Between the Buried and Me are influenced by many styles that define their overall sound including extreme metal, progressive rock, alternative pop-rock, classical, and jazz fusion. This is all united under a base that is largely metalcore(the name given to the branch of metal influenced by hardcore punk), which is relatively uncommon in progressive metal music. It is not surprising to hear lighter elements of Pink Floyd, Queen, or Smashing Pumpkins alongside that of the heavier Metallica, Megadeth, or Opeth.
After the critically acclaimed 2007 album Colors, Between the Buried and Me set out on tour and notably performed in the "Progressive Nation '08" festival alongside Dream Theater, Opeth, and 3. The band entered the studio to record their fifth studio album, and have stated in the interim that one of their songs has "a noisy Coalesce breakdown, 3/4 Mastodon groove, 9/8 The Mars Volta, Queen chromatic build up, and Megadeth chorus" as stated in their official website.
The result was The Great Misdirect, consisting of six distinct, diverse songs. The heavy and bombastic metal characteristics are still there with all of their complexities such as speed and technicality, dynamic shifts in time signatures, and blistering solos fused with more lighter, more "mainstream" sounding clean guitar segments.
In the past, they have had influences of classic rock, thrash metal, alternative rock, and jazz, but in this album, there have been newer styles and sounds included, one of them which figures prominently is an almost country sound, sprinkled in songs such as "Disease, Injury, Madness" (complete with a horse's neigh), and the fifth track "Desert of Song" is a slower, laid-back piece from start to finish, with an overall country-style atmosphere. Eccentric elements like polka, however, have been incorporated for the song "Fossil Genera - A Feed from Cloud Mountain."
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