Review Summary: Pretty fancy.
From the days of Victory, then Metal Blade, and then now with Sumerian it’s hard to identify truly significant changes in Between The Buried And Me’s sound. Subtle new things pop out from time to time, mainly in the prog and synth department. There may have been some small add-ons, but the basic format is still unchanged. Tommy Giles Rogers Jr. has always displayed a throaty scream along with his thin singing tone. He’s more than capable, but amongst the virtuosity behind him he never really sounds that powerful. The guitar performance is unreal. Unfortunately, the riffs and shredding the band are known for, while still present, don’t seem to affect me as they once did. The same is clear for the rhythm section, which is undeniably excellent, but displaying the same things they have for years now. Dan Briggs, who gives a mystifying bass performance here, almost seems to overdo it at times. And of course we still get treated to the noodle sessions that always seem like strange asides, or side notes, that more often that not, sound forced.
While BTBAM have embraced prog more throughout the years, and have shed some of their metalcore beginnings, especially over the past few albums, I’ve found it difficult to really find the heart in all of it. I tried to sniff out that emotion, or passion, the lifeblood, the humanity, but I had trouble. BTBAM have always played awesome, but somehow uninspired. How is that possible, when a band has chops like these, and is clearly motivated enough to do all of this? I sit down with their records quite a bit, but it takes a special energy to really focus on what’s actually happening. It’s like listening to a great mathematician explaining a breakthrough theorem, it’s clearly amazing, but it’s also boring. Unless, of course, the mathematician puts on a Pikachu onesie and explains the thing on a unicycle, right? Play stupid games, win stupid prizes?
Really nothing much has changed here on Colors II. It has actually gotten to the point that if you put on a BTBAM record I distinguish them apart faster by production quality and level of progginess, rather than by the content of the songs. But it’s not all bad though, of course not. “Never Seen / Future Shock” has an awesome straight-up rock chorus, and proggy deliciousness from the seven minute mark to the chorus’ second appearance at the end. The last few minutes of “Bad Habits” are awesome. Leads flutter about all over the place while synths expand the soundscape even more. These particular vocals are solid too, with an affection, a vibe that isn’t weighed down with silliness and frivolity. Those minutes are short-lived however, because “The Future is Behind Us”, which follows is just goofy. Part of me can’t help wonder if these odd meanderings are like geocache locations left within the compositions to help remind them of exactly where they are in their discography.
Clearly though, it’s my problem. I like interesting music, which this clearly is, but I also crave music with deep underlying human emotion, emotion that can only be conveyed with a certain level of centered seriousness. Maybe BTBAM is channeling that same emotion, but it’s so often presented with cringy weirdness. Sometimes though, the music can be glorious and majestic. The final track has a beautiful lead-in and beginning, but after a few minutes I honestly couldn’t tell if Spotify had “radioed” me and something from their back catalogue was playing. Then just past the seven minute mark the awesome riff from the beginning of the song happens again, and it’s followed by one of the most dynamic and lovely sections of music I’ve heard from these guys. But all things considered, we have about five minutes of awesome content, and ten minutes of shenanigans. Think about that ratio for a minute, and consider the album's one hour, eighteen minute runtime.
So a few hours of my life have gone by as I sat and listened to another dense brick of music from a band with an already dense body of work. There were some fun moments, some incredible riffs, some really neat synth passages and crazy song structures. Even bona fide drum and bass solos are present. Pretty fancy. But my reality is unfortunate. I miss the days when Between The Buried And Me were fresh to my ears. I wish I could turn back time and hear this as if I had never heard all the other records. Sadly, this isn’t possible, so while impressive as hell, as usual, I’m seemingly less impressed than I used to be.
