Review Summary: And the Grammy for Best Metal Album of 2035 goes to....
Much like Queensryche’s Rage For Order or Voivod’s Nothingface, either of which could’ve been marketed as “What Metal will sound like in 10 years” back in the 80’s, Between the Buried and Me’s eleventh album The Blue Nowhere has that same feel as something that could be dug up in 2035 and perhaps fit right in to whatever the current Metal culture is. Sure, these guys have been producing mind-bending music for DECADES now, but there’s something even stranger and more alien than usual to this chaotic collection. And let me make it clear right out of the gate, this is not music for musical conformists. If you’re looking for verse/bridge/chorus type endeavors, you’re *** outta luck. Pal!
Not wasting any time, BTBAM messes with convention right away, opener “Things We Tell Ourselves in the Dark” hitting the Funk Pipe like Wild Cherry with Dream Theater-chops, navigating eight minutes of groove-leaden intrigue that connects “Play That Funky Music” to Haken. Pure genius at work that melds the familiar with the strange in a way that both sides can learn from. “God Terror” is an Al Jourgensen fever dream, as twisted as anything Ministry ever concocted musically, feeling somewhere between The Mind is a Terrible Thing To Taste and Psalm 69 with ridiculously tasteful Jazz Fusion accents splayed all over the canvas to temper the cyber storm somewhat. But make no mistake, this track doesn’t take the subtle route. And we might as well apply that to everything that happens from here on out. Between The Buried and Me are all about exploration and the premise that nothing good comes from comfort, even if they DO embrace hooks and melodicism like no one’s business when it feels right!
Advance single, “Absent Thereafter” is a solid snapshot of the scattershot compositional style that defines this institution of higher learning, spastic Death Metal rubbing shoulders with moments of Proggy introspection and whatever else scratches the itch, in this case a tasteful batch of legitimately Countryfied licks and leads that James Hetfield would’ve killed to be a part of if he had the right supporting cast during the Load era! The lead section is a John 5 special, plucking strings, chickens and whatever else gets under Paul Waggoner’s fingernails. Overall the song takes one hell of a musical constitution to navigate from A to Z….but well worth the price of admission if you can stomach it.
And it goes on from here….a rocky terrain of peaks and valleys that will confound as much as impress. The Metal can feel flailing and unrelenting at times, but there’s always a smart melodic payoff to every dense moment of croaking intensity that burrows through. The title track itself even flirts with the kind of late 70’s vibe that birthed Yacht Rock (trust me, it’s the only thing I hear when wifey drives these days). I’ve always been of the impression that bands as musically advanced (and unhinged) as Between The Buried and Me could benefit from having someone smart to edit the excesses and trim the fat, but these musical menses don’t seem to want to find a commercial balance that might add some zeroes to the bank account, and I can’t blame them for that. This is music full of wide inspiration made by Dad bods who are still willing to crush with the intensity of bands 20 years their junior. The smart move as any legitimate MUSIC fan in 2025 is to embrace these guys and realize that by 2035, there likely won’t be ANYTHING this real and forward thinking going on in Metal (or music in general) anymore. And we should appreciate genius like this while it’s still something worth chasing. And in Between the Buried and Me’s case….catching.
