deCONstructed by theRealist
So my bro recently handed me a copy of, "The Great Misdirect," by BTBAM (Between the Buried and Me) and said that he hadn't had a chance to give it a full listen but he liked what he had heard so far. I threw it on my iPhone and played it in the car a couple times before I decided to write this review.
First and foremost, I'm writing this article based on the idea that you have a little bit of understanding towards who BTBAM are and what they sound like. If not go check out their myspace. It's heavy stuff, so the Lady Ga-Ga people might want to stay away. That's just my warning.
When you first look at the track listing for TGMD (the great misdirect), you'll notice that there is only six songs. Average first thought: "Ep?" Reality: "Oh fuck. The song's are like twelve minutes each." This is completely the case. I mean not constantly, but the songs are generally long. This is the only flaw of the album for me. I understand their wanting to flow songs like crazy long jam sessions, but it get's hard to listen to unless you are heading out for a long run or drive. Either way, you have to devote the time to the tracks, which could be exactly what they wanted from their listeners. With that aside, I'd like to talk about the actual album.
There are a lot of usual BTBAM elements on the album. Lots of ridiculously tough instrumental parts, extremely powerful vocals (both screaming and singing which I'll touch on more after) and somehow they seem to get the same damn sound on every album. It's insane. (When I say sound I mean like, the actual tone of the guitars and such)
So on this album, BTBAM starts to experiment a little more than they already have in the past, and throw some more singing in, which doesn't take away from the album at all. You have to really appreciate Tommy Rogers' voice. It's unbelievable and really stands on it's own in the realm of metal singers out there right now. His uncanny ability to jump between singing and screaming so seamlessly is unbelievable. Also on this CD, we get to hear the lead guitarist belt out some vocals over a western sounding ballad. (My brother made the note that they are from Raleigh, North Carolina so they are given a free pass on doing some of the southerny stuff, since it is such a fad right now) His voice is awesome and totally different and becomes an integral part to the success of the song.
If you remember Colors than you remember a couple parts where you kind of felt like you were in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory (the Tim Burton/Danny Elfman one), where the vocals suddenly turned all happy and creepy singing, "La la la la, lalala." Anyways, they do something similar to that again, but a little more ragtime, "Snap your fingers," style with some wicked little piano riff. It's pretty cool, but also moving away from the norm for them.
But then with that said, what is the norm for them? They've always been experimenting with things we find humorous or entertaining for some reason, and the fact of the matter is whether you laugh at it or rock out to it, you're still smiling once it's done.
The album overall is extremely impressive, if you have the time to devote to listening to it. It's really hard to just throw a track on and not give it much, because you'll hear a bunch of noise in the background, which to me was their only downfall.
If they choose to pursue this type of layout then I think they should look to the Mars Volta and how even though, "Myranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore," was like sixteen minutes long, they split it up into parts A), B), C) and so on. I guess it works for some and not for others but it needs to be thought about.
Then again, I still loved it, so obviously they did something right.
Check it out for sure.
First and foremost, I'm writing this article based on the idea that you have a little bit of understanding towards who BTBAM are and what they sound like. If not go check out their myspace. It's heavy stuff, so the Lady Ga-Ga people might want to stay away. That's just my warning.
When you first look at the track listing for TGMD (the great misdirect), you'll notice that there is only six songs. Average first thought: "Ep?" Reality: "Oh fuck. The song's are like twelve minutes each." This is completely the case. I mean not constantly, but the songs are generally long. This is the only flaw of the album for me. I understand their wanting to flow songs like crazy long jam sessions, but it get's hard to listen to unless you are heading out for a long run or drive. Either way, you have to devote the time to the tracks, which could be exactly what they wanted from their listeners. With that aside, I'd like to talk about the actual album.
There are a lot of usual BTBAM elements on the album. Lots of ridiculously tough instrumental parts, extremely powerful vocals (both screaming and singing which I'll touch on more after) and somehow they seem to get the same damn sound on every album. It's insane. (When I say sound I mean like, the actual tone of the guitars and such)
So on this album, BTBAM starts to experiment a little more than they already have in the past, and throw some more singing in, which doesn't take away from the album at all. You have to really appreciate Tommy Rogers' voice. It's unbelievable and really stands on it's own in the realm of metal singers out there right now. His uncanny ability to jump between singing and screaming so seamlessly is unbelievable. Also on this CD, we get to hear the lead guitarist belt out some vocals over a western sounding ballad. (My brother made the note that they are from Raleigh, North Carolina so they are given a free pass on doing some of the southerny stuff, since it is such a fad right now) His voice is awesome and totally different and becomes an integral part to the success of the song.
If you remember Colors than you remember a couple parts where you kind of felt like you were in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory (the Tim Burton/Danny Elfman one), where the vocals suddenly turned all happy and creepy singing, "La la la la, lalala." Anyways, they do something similar to that again, but a little more ragtime, "Snap your fingers," style with some wicked little piano riff. It's pretty cool, but also moving away from the norm for them.
But then with that said, what is the norm for them? They've always been experimenting with things we find humorous or entertaining for some reason, and the fact of the matter is whether you laugh at it or rock out to it, you're still smiling once it's done.
The album overall is extremely impressive, if you have the time to devote to listening to it. It's really hard to just throw a track on and not give it much, because you'll hear a bunch of noise in the background, which to me was their only downfall.
If they choose to pursue this type of layout then I think they should look to the Mars Volta and how even though, "Myranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore," was like sixteen minutes long, they split it up into parts A), B), C) and so on. I guess it works for some and not for others but it needs to be thought about.
Then again, I still loved it, so obviously they did something right.
Check it out for sure.
