LIVE REVIEW: Between The Buried and Me @ The Electric Ballroom, London
On what was promised to be an extra special show comprising of two sets and with no support band, BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME made syntheses of us all; there was mist, there was a moody singer and above all else there was colourful prog. The much-anticipated return of the American progressive metal powerhouse was met with crowds stretching as far as our beloved Camden Market once went. Whilst Buck Street may have succumbed to commercialisation, the timeless and sticky floored Electric Ballroom was just opening its doors. What was found behind them was a bubble of diversity, anyone claiming to have seen metal at its most innovative would have to experience the pilgrimage that is a live show from these giants.
As the lights dimmed and the mist assembled, the first notes of Naked By The Computer hit the room. The song hailing from their self-titled debut album from 2002 echoed their initial identity; a cocktail of instrumentals belonging to progressive metalcore with a touch of death metal influence. The intro carrying heavy emotional weight was played for a mere few minutes, before the boys quickly shifted to Astral Body from The Parallax II: Future Sequence. The quick change upheld the true tradition of the North Carolina quintet – wild and unpredictable song progressions, on this occasion showcasing a teasing intro that led to a different track entirely.
Following some faint claps from the crowd, Set One got its true explosive start with Lay Your Ghosts to Rest paired with the Fire For A Dry Mouth outro. It was at this point that vocalist Tommy Giles Rogers with his hands still in the air took a breather and explained that this particular tour was aimed at playing songs that they wouldn’t normally choose to play. Whether this created an extra special quality to their tour was unclear, what stood out the most was the unrelentless labyrinth-esque nature of their songs and their deliverance. Without pause each track offered a fusion of musical styles encompassing innovative lyrical concepts and a journey from melancholic tones right down to death-like growls all in one track. Needless to mention that BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME have made it a clear statement that no two riffs will be played the same and that to truly experience profound musicianship requires risk taking and no crap given about who thinks what of it. This in itself proves to be both a unique identifying factor and a downfall of the band. The nature of their compositions proves wild and aggressively delivered, with songs having little time to breathe. Packed with reckless tempo and style shifts it can easily feel like the quintet lacks expert musicianship to successfully connect all the concepts they merge within their music.
After a somewhat lukewarm reaction to the set’s opening tracks the pace picks up as we travel back to the 2005 album with title track Alaska. Diving into the song with pure aggression the chaos only intensifies, whilst Alaska teases with a powerful intro the rest of it fails to uphold a bold impact. The same cannot be said for the tracks that followed; More Of Myself To Kill and The Coma Machine. The crowd now getting warm and fidgety gifts Tommy Rogers with their first big ovation, the rest of the pack consisting of Paul Waggoner on lead guitar, Dustie Waring on rhythm, Dan Briggs on bass and Blake Richardson on drums steadily carry on with the proceedings finishing off the set with tracks from The Silent Circus and The Great Misdirect albums.
With the first half of the show having now concluded, the latter part resulted in feeling as bizarre and adventurous as the first. Setting a slower pace the band started off with the soothing The Back Box leaving the music nerds in the audience mostly standing still, gazing up in a sort of admiration. What followed brought the heaviness back through various sinister and entertaining rippers off their Parallax II: Future Sequence album, Telos and Bloom being the crowd highlights. A six song setlist came to an end with a further three song encore through memory lane, showcasing some brilliant solo writing and dream like tones found in Viridian and White Walls.
As jittery as the tone of this review may read, BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME explored the true meaning of this word throughout this set. Though it seems that the band display an array of talent and creativity this is largely overshadowed by the over complexity of their composition, at times resulting in the music feeling exhausting in its own virtuosity and lacking overall flow.
Of course, for many lovers of the prog genre this quintet will continue to provide new things to discover at every listen. Never once taking the safe road, BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME have continued to push the genre into places unknown, doing so the only way they know how, without any musical boundaries in place. One thing is certain, these proggers do not attain to everyone’s taste but what they do provide is a sense of adventure within every song in turn connecting the listeners not only with their music but the actual artists behind the instruments.
Rating: 8/10
Check out our photo gallery from the night’s action in London from Karolina Janikunaite here:
