Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

Well in all honesty, I don't hate it but the opening track is one of my least favorite things they've done haha. So I might take any chance to use an alternative xD I'll have to check out that bonus track

Album Rating: 4.5

big picture wise i kinda see this as the true follow up to coma ecliptic. that album was a huge inflection moment in their career that certainly expanded but completely split their fanbase.



after coma, the band goes and signs with sumerian, and instantly back to being this proper metal band on automata i and then six months later doing prog rock again on automata ii. the album was apparently written as one piece but split in two at the label's insistence? felt like trying to appease both sides of the fanbase while only succeeding with the proggers.



then covid hits and suddenly they are doing colors 2. while a very personal album to me even if its grown off a bit over the years... i def think it was a bit of a calculated nostalgia grab in the face of the music industry at large potentially never coming back.



i don't think they'd ever admit it but this feels like the first album since coma that is them purely doing exactly what they want to do. they've since moved from sumerian to inside out which seems like a way more fitting label for them... and now with dusty gone (who was always described as "the metal guy" in the band)... its all the more easier to just write the wacky prog they've been vying for.



as seen on the last page, a lot of the detractors want btbam to just be a metal band and get rid of all the "gimmicky" shit. i think that's a complete misinterpretation of what they've been wanting to be since coma... which is a band who does wacky shit, with the metal being the gimmick. condenmned to the gallows is the gimmick song, voice of trespass is them right where they want to be

This is really bad so far. They took the worst aspects of BTBAM, cranked them to 11, then lowered all the good aspects down to like a 2.

Album Rating: 0.5

Spot-on analysis Phil. It's their worst in a discog full of bad albums. Pretty incredible tbh.

Album Rating: 3.5

This is really solid. They do sound like they’re having fun with it and I really love the closer.

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

"which is a band who does wacky shit, with the metal being the gimmick"



See, I would argue that BTBAM is at their best when the reverse is happening: a solid metal band with wacky shit as the gimmick. It's a solid gimmick, and all of their most highly praised albums are weighted heavier with metal and have more splashes/touches of craziness.



Look at Colors, Alaska, and Parallax II. Solid metal riffs with scattered prog weirdness, and more focus on cohesiveness than throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. That's why my rating falls shorter for this one than those three albums in particular. BTBAM always puts out quality material, but compared to other BTBAM albums this particular album doesn't quite match up.

Album Rating: 4.5

I'm about half way through and this has been sick so far, Absent Thereafter is incredible.

Album Rating: 4.0

killer album!

Album Rating: 4.5

"See, I would argue that BTBAM is at their best when the reverse is happening: a solid metal band with wacky shit as the gimmick. It's a solid gimmick, and all of their most highly praised albums are weighted heavier with metal and have more splashes/touches of craziness."



oh yeah i'd never argue their newer stuff is on the level of their 2007-2012 material even if i still love all the new stuff. just that they really aren't even trying to be that band anymore.



there was an article i read last week where paul ranked all their albums in what was mostly reverse chronological order. iirc both this (obv) but also coma were in his top 3... while colors and alaska were last (besides the first two). what they think is their best work differs a lot from the general fan consensus

Album Rating: 4.5

Automata I is one of their best. Yes, just Automata I. Automata II honestly kind of ruins it for me, for the most part. AI is them at their least gimmicky, I'd argue, ever. It has an incredible, dark and ominous atmosphere, and simply brings you on a crazy journey. Yellow Eyes is their most underrated song by far. I will never get why most find that song so average. As far as AII goes. It's more gimmicky, by far, than AI. Bellow is mostly great, but the chorus I find very meh, it feels too lighthearted for what has been built up from AI. Glide and Voice of Trespass are... gimmicky btbam unapologetically, for better or worse, and then The Grid is... just alright. It just ends... lighthearted. Blot, by contrast, is intense as a fuck, all of AI is intense. Plus, AI reminds me of the slightly nocturnal, darker tones of TGM, as well.

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

I'm the opposite. I thought A1 was their worst stuff in awhile. I thought it was boring. A2 is what I love about this band. Glide into VoT is awesome.

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

Agreed hard Retter

Most of Automata is BTBAM at their safest and blandest honestly. At least Coma took some risks despite me not enjoying it all that much.

I agree that this is the first album since Coma where BTBAM have actually tried to push the envelope and do some different things rather than coast on their classic sound.

Not sure if it always works however.

Album Rating: 3.0

Will be jamming later though not really expecting much. Also its kinda impressive the range of reactions this band can produce.

Album Rating: 4.0

Glide is so good

I really fucking hate those "yabba dabba doo" vocals he breaks out every once in awhile

Album Rating: 2.0

I hate a lot of things about this tbh

Album Rating: 0.5

One of the worst things ever recorded yeah.

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

I am surprised so many people like it so much. But I am happy for the band that they do though, because indeed, they seem to really be doing what they love here.

Album Rating: 3.5

this is lesser btbam imo but i still dig it