Thread: Great bands you never heard: Between The Buried and Me

Between the Buried and Me is a diamond in the rough in the hardcore scene. Where as many bands sound bland and alike everything else out there, BTBAM is a unique band that combines a little bit of everything. Metalcore, death metal, jazz, alternative, a lot of different styles of music seem to blend together into a chaotic circus of sound. Every song is an emotional roller coaster and the band's sound evolves with each release.

They started off in 2000 after the break up of Prayer for Cleansing, Tommy Rogers and Paul Waggoner began writing together and formed a band. Changing members often before eventually staying with the same 5 people. Eventually releasing their self titled CD. For a first release, it's really well done. Sure the production quality is meh and Tommy's growls sound like a chipmunk attempting death metal. But for what is, it's a very good cd and a enjoyable listen. A large portion of their style is evident and feels much like a prototype of greater things to come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6m8nNpZ7uo

Which indeed did come, in 2003 they released "The Silent Circus", the first CD I ever bought from them and worth every penny. This CD had helped me get through my life as each song was a release. The emotional twists and turn are aplenty, ranging from depressive, enraged, relaxed, and hostile. It's like a nightmarish hell that slowly turns into a wonderful dream, and then suddenly repeats the cycle all over again. For any newcomers to this band, I recommend either this, or their self titled CD as both are great for newbies. "The Silent Circus" was BTBAM's Appetite for Destruction, it was a much needed change in the world of hardcore music. Where many bands were pathetic emo groups who sang about the same shit in every record. BTBAM covered much more material such as basic trials of life, to controversies such as Pedophilia in the Chapel and the George Bush presidency.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChNolV4QZd4

Their next release came in 2005 in the form of "Alaska". The band at the time of the recording included Tommy Rogers, Paul Waggoner, Dusty Warring, Dan Briggs, and Blake Richardson and this pair of 5 has remained ever since. "Alaska" could be described as mixture of The Silent Circus' complexity and the sound of the self titled CD. Which is to be expected since Jamie King produced every BTBAM CD to date except for "The Silent Circus". Alaska on it's own is great CD and a logical sequel to "The Silent Circus". It sounds very familiar and yet sounds fresh and more mature than the previous releases. In between this record and the following one they released "The Anatomy of", which is CD full of covers from bands that inspire the members of BTBAM.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19UZd_DKs2Q

The next CD "Colors" was released in 2007 and sent the band into spotlight. To compare it to other well known records, it's like Metallica transitioning from "Ride the Lightning" to "...And Justice For All". The band literally took a turn in a whole new direction, while it's still BTBAM, it was completely unlike anything they had released before. It was termed "new wave polka grunge" by Victory Records and in all honesty, that still doesn't accurately describe it. It's name I think is the only real way to summarize it, think of all the colors of a rainbow and compare them to emotions. That's how Colors is, each song is different and yet it all mends together really well. Like a magnum opus or a play split into different acts. For someone who was a longtime fan of the band it was a pleasant surprise once I gave it a good listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTLWDePdOM4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDy11pgkYlo

Then their newest release finally came just last year in 2009 and is by far the most ambitious. "The Great Misdirect" is a musical adventure in the form of six songs. From the moment you begin listening till the end of the final measure of the disc, you'll be lost in trance. You'll want to only listen to one song, but you can't stop listening, you're compelled to keep your ears tuned in till sound has ceased to come out of your speakers. It was a much more enjoyable listen for me on the first time than "Colors" and is wildly different from "The Silent Circus". It's a fine record and has gotten many repeat listens from me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9wc03FW2Uo

To summarize, Between the Buried and Me is an excellent group and is worth a good 30 minutes of your time. If you don't like one song, try another, you'd be surprised how drastically different they all are and how much they shift and change over time. This is Watsyurdeal? with the first ever "Great Bands You Never Heard", signing off.



Notable Songs

More of Myself to Kill
Aspirations
Fire For a Dry Mouth
Naked By the Computer
Shevanel Cut a Flip
Lost Perfection: Coulrophobia and Anablephobia
Mordecai
Ad a Dglgmut
All Bodies
Selkies: The Endless Obsession
Backwards Marathon
Foam Born: The Backtrack and Decade of Statues
Informal Gluttony
Sun of Nothing
Ants of the Sky
Mirrors
Obfuscation
Disease, Injury, Madness
Fossil Genera - A Feed From Cloud Mountain


This is an idea for a new article series, where resident teamplayers talk about one of their favorite bands. Bands that they feel are obscure and don't get enough attention when they feel they deserve it. That means bands like Queen and Metallica aren't allowed, lesser known groups like Ulver, Agalloch, Devin Townsend Project, and Scale the Summit however are. Any bands in the underground or those that are somewhat unknown are encouraged. Write a biography about them, post some of their work, and of course put some of your input and criticism. Talk about the band and let us know why we should give a damn.

Well, let this one be a test so to speak. What do you think?

*bump for great justice*

Another great band you have never heard of...

Phil Dirt and the Dozers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJsngzibuR4

Originally Posted by Chizzle

I used to listen to them back in the day, but I think I have outgrown that genre. Thats not to insult them at all though, they are an extremely talented band.

With song titles like those listed, they're bound to get slammed with emo stereotypes. Don't care for the type of music, but they do seem to have some talent, vocals notwithstanding :P

pig and sow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcvyDkFpVMg