 Logan |
The music that flows out of this band is just insane. This is what Bach and Beethoven would have written if they had distortion. One guitar will start a line and the other will compliment with a different line. Soon we have multiple voices chasing one another (just like one would hear in a good piece of classical music). Paul Waggoner has to be one of the most innovative guitarists in the metal world today. The music he writes is complex and never predictable. After hearing a few seconds of any random rock song on the radio I can usually hum the next few notes before I even hear them. I can’t do that while listening to The Great Misdirect. If I tried my head would explode. As soon as I think I know where the music is going it changes directions. Sometimes this can be jarring and unpleasant. You get this a lot with these artsy indie bands because they try so hard to sound complicated. These are the same type of bands that write 15 minute songs just so they can pretend to be more artistic than the next lame band. This isn’t the case with Between the Buried and Me. Their songs are just as long as they need to be. They never sound forced or contrived and the music is very natural. After reading up to this point you might be wondering why I didn’t give this a perfect score. You might have also noticed that I have not yet mentioned the vocals. I wish I didn’t have to mention them. In my opinion, the vocals are the only thing holding this band back. This would be way beyond the Animals as Leaders album if it were an instrumental album. The music is rich and full of dynamics but the vocals are just the opposite. They are repetitive and predictable. If anyone has heard a Between the Buried and Me album they will hear what I’m talking about. When the music gets heavy and the vocals get harsh Tommy Rogers seems to revert to just a select few vocal paterns. His harsh singing is also a boring monotone scream. Jason Wisdom of Becoming the Archetype used to do this on his first couple of albums. If you are familiar with them you will know what I am talking about. Just picture that but higher pitched and even more monotone and you will have an idea of how Tommy Rogers sounds when doing the harsh vocals. The clean vocals do sound a lot better on this album. He is on key and there are even some harmonies. It’s nothing special but the clean vocals are a hell of a lot better than the harsh ones. Seeing them live was another story. I caught them on tour with Opeth and their clean vocals were terrible. It was, however, worth seeing them just just to watch these guys play their instruments. All in all we have some of the most interesting and progressive albums of 2009 here. If the vocals were more dynamic and were a little more interesting this would be one of the coolest albums out there. Complaining aside, this is highly recommended. 8/10
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