I’m kicking off this season of Album Reviews with COMA ECLIPTIC by Between the Buried and Me.
Coma Ecliptic
In the follow-up effort to Parallax II : Future Sequence, the boys from Between The Buried And Me find themselves in familiar territory. The concept is thick and cohesive, and production is as slick as a sincere lads well oiled hair. There are a few changes that one can see almost immediately from their last record and these changes are welcomed with all ears wide open. I won’t divulge the concept for it would be a disservice to the listener. Let me give you a hint though- It is as science fiction as it gets with twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat.
The opening track Node is predominantly a soft-intro, eerily reminiscent of Opeth’s Heritage and it builds up remarkably well. There is a bunch of lyrical foreshadowing going on this track, which becomes very important to anyone who’s setting himself/herself up for this journey of sorts.
The Coma Machine opens in a grandiose fashion. Odd time signatures will be a regular affair from hereon. Swelling piano chords, tight drumming and start-stop phrasing take the listener from scene to scene. In familiar BTBAM fashion, we encounter the harsh vocals with alternating styles comfortably interspersed. This is a track that one cannot necessarily head-bang to, but one that needs to pay attention to.
Dim Ignition caught my ear almost immediately. There is something about the atmosphere that this song paints. Reminded me of Gojira’s A Sight To Behold . It’s heavy use of techno samples with effect pedals and synths pave the way for what a concept record to should strive to establish : A solid narrative. This is the quintessential transition track which leads us into …
Famine Wolf – Haunting open strings welcome some fancy guitar lead guitar shredding. The rest of the song is your usual BTBAM business, till we reach the 4 minute mark. Then things slow down, the narrative takes center stage and guitars take prominence… easing us all into a jazz based jam. There is something recurring here. The feeling that you’re in a coma.
King Redeem-Queen Serene is what Opeth’s latest effort should have sounded like. The ode to Ghost Reveries is pretty clear at some instances, while still keeping their signature sound. If you’ve listened to Parallax II as often as I have, you will undoubtedly hear similarities. This can get repetitive and for a moment you wonder why. I found this to be a bit troublesome, however there is enough prog-laden structural ingenuity that we have been fond of from the works of King Crimson , Yes and Genesis.
The next track – Turn on the Darkness is another one of those transitionary tracks that doesn’t do much but maybe one of those tracks that grows on you in the grand scheme of things. The crowning jewel of this record for me is what follows next – The Ectopic Scroll. I love this track for many different reasons (That piano intro is so much fun) . It reminds of a lot of Bloom from Parallax II and if that wasn’t enough, it’s got enough diverse influences to keep you interested but not so much so that it saturates you. The nod to Queen and Dream Theater is so obvious, its almost funny. This track is pretty much the reason by Between The Buried and Me are so fine in their vision – nothing held back. Quirky, strange and downright illegal from the sense of traditional sense of what Metal is. But it works, and boy – BTBAM make it work so well, you don’t even notice the genre hopping.
Rapid Calm is another synth-centric track that keeps the tempo around the mid range, and features some core guitar work. Nothing too flashy, but catchy and noteworthy. It forms another nice concept track to lead us into Memory Palace – the first single off this record. Bring out the hammond organ, flashy guitars – lush with great backing, harmonies, intelligent use of wah-pedal and over all grins on our melted faces. The inter-play between guitars and synth is the crux of this track. Tommy explores his vocal range more prominently on this track than the others going from soaring highs to haunting lows and bone-crushing screams in between . This track is huge, its big and it’s fab. It will be a live staple for multiple tours and a crowd favorite. The ballad-esque interludes will force you to take your lighter out and wave it about. Queen influences shine bright as a supernova across your face! Option Oblivion is a logical extension of the previous track and there is nothing much to talk about it apart from the fact that it kills. The album comes to a close with Life in Velvet which does start off soft and slow but builds strong and ends with a bang.
This record was all kinds of fun. The guitars were more prominent on this record than any of their previous ones that I have listened to. Very Van-Halen-esque. The drumming and bass work is tight as ever, and I would not expect anything less from Blake Richardson and Dan Briggs. It is a great record on an initial listen and will grow more profound as you listen to it multiple times. Another very strong, diverse and coherent record from Between the Buried and Me.
Buy This record : http://www.metalblade.com/btbam
Tour dates : http://www.songkick.com/artists/391106-between-the-buried-and-me
4 Stars / 5 Stars.
The Quasar Syncopation 