Between the Buried and Me-Colors

After quite a long search, i finally found a copy of BTBAM's "Colors" on Amazon.com from a seller in Colorado. i received the record a few days ago and am still trying to process what exactly it is!  The record came on marbled blue vinyl , which looks really nice.

The album begins with a beautiful piano-based track which morphs into an almost Muse-ish alternative rock section complete with sweet keyboard solo, before the band takes the track and moves it into BTBAM's signature metalcore sound. The first two tracks "Foam Born" set the tone for the album, bleeding in to one another. The album plays as one long song with many different moods, sections, and themes. The piano intro serves as a sort of bookend, as the album ends with a lone piano playing.

"Informal Gluttony", track three, shows the band painting a lyrical picture of a city made of construction paper and corner tubes. Musically, it starts with a Middle-Eastern feel before melting back into metalcore. At this point, it is almost all heavy, except for a beautiful refrain of "feed me fear," which shows Tommy's abilities to go from growling and screaming to singing easily.

"Sun of Nothing" could be my favorite on the album. Lyrically, it tells of a man who feels as though he does not fit in with the world at large and decides that the best thing to do is to fly to outer space and crash into the sun. Near the end of his journey, the character begins to feel lonely and second-guess his choice, as he "never had it all that bad."  The middle section of this song stands out, as the band goes from their metal assault to an almost System of a Down-inspired vocal refrain of "floating away," to a quirky piano interlude with vocal scatting, back to a metal sound with nice guitar interplay. Later, a section of clean vocals and guitars declares that the protagonist is floating and that "[he] did love, [he] did laugh, [he] did live." The keyboards that seep in (and digitally-altered vocals, too!) add to the sci-fi feel of the story. The song continues to build back up to distorted guitars and louder drumming, before Tommy picks up again with his shrieking and growling. Crazed guitars take the song into the next track, "Ants of the Sky."

"Ants" is another highpoint in an album full of them. The guitars really stand out on the first portion of this track, as they play off of one another before giving way to a single piano, recalling the first track briefly before yet another epic guitar solo, which hearkens back to the song "Selkies: the Endless Obsession" from the "Alaska" album. The song continues on frantically before briefly giving way to a jazzy interlude, before the lead guitars come back in to remind you that this band rules. Said ruling continues on, and then, another change! Clean guitars take over for a bit of a reprieve from the chaos. Slowly, the drumming builds the song back up, and we are prompted to "sleep on... fly on." The song slows down and pummels you at this point, before going back to a clean guitar sound with clean vocals. Then, we get to the infamous "ho-down" part, which is unexpected and awesome (and features weird background conversations, like being in a saloon in the old West). Another guitar solo (!) leads us into "Prequel to the Sequel."

"Prequel" tells a story of a headless individual who grows branches. To me, and i could be way off, but i think that this song talks about accepting yourself and eschewing comfort, instead seeking out your own path, your individuality. This could serve as a general statement or speak more directly about the band and its place in the music world. The middle of the song features a polka-sounding part with keyboards sounding like an accordion, before the band picks up again. Vocals here are provided by a member of the band Fear Before (aka Fear Before the March of Flames). The song rages on before giving way to "Viridian."

"Viridian" allows Dan's bass playing to stand out, lest we forget that everyone in the band is a gifted musician; this is not just a "guitar band," and this track shows that.

Finally, we have "White Walls." Again, the song speaks about, to me at least, the lack of creativity in popular music today, drawing reference to Camilla, as in "Camilla Rhodes," a song from the band's "Silent Circus" album which speaks of the priority of image over talent in our world today. Musically, again, this song is driving, heavy, and intense. The lyrics then go on to provoke us to think of the legacy we leave, saying that most simply leave white walls when they die. An interesting subject to ponder as the album ends, as it began and continued, on a high note.

"Colors" is, obviously, a well-loved and highly-praised album, and it is for good reason. i don't mean to heap praise on a band that already has heard enough, but they are obviously doing something that speaks to a great many people and inspires them to strive to be better: musically, in art, as people, whatever. Any music or album that can do that, that can have that effect, is due whatever praise it may receive.










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