I've been working on this one for a while now; bits and pieces pasted together with dilligent review to prevent anything too incoherent from passing through. This album has taken a lot of digestion and thought. Because it is that good. Enjoy:
What’s the average length of an album these days? Somewhere between 30-40 minutes? Let’s face it, very few people have an attention span beyond that. That’s why the album is dying; it’s more advantageous to just release singles. People can handle 3-4 minutes at a time. The simple-minded can understand that.
So it’s Tuesday (or at least was when I started writing this review). At work, that means country music day, which I vehemently abhor. There are few days worse than a Tuesday. Everything else could be right with the world, but country music just tends to negate all of the beauty in life. So instead of sitting at my desk, subjecting myself to such masochistic torture, I make my Tuesday's death-metal-Tuesday. Ironically, I find death-metal to be relaxing.
On this particular Tuesday, I'm looking for 72.5 minutes of uninterruption. I have plenty of work to fill the time, so I shouldn’t have a reason to get up from my desk. However, as the morning progresses, it becomes more and more apparent that I won’t have my time of solace. Meeting upon design change upon frivolous task pile up and suck me away from my desk. Generally these would be welcome, but I want/need this time in succession.
Throughout the day I resent this. Because you can, in fact, hold my attention for a full album. Listening track by track is not how it should be done. I’m an album guy; tell me a story; paint me a picture. A 3 minute song is a snippet of useless information. Either the album will receive praise or condemnation. I won't revisit an album just for one song. There is no lukewarm, no hit-single, nothing but black and white. And if you can hold my attention through an album, chances are, I will follow that up with the rest of your discography.
So I have tried to reserve this 72.5 minutes to listen to the latest Between the Buried and Me (BTBAM), The Parallax II: Future Sequence. A band that doesn’t believe in hits or 3 minute songs … or 40 minute albums (yes, they have these, but they do not ascribe to the limitations that this narrow-mindedness proposes).This is the sequel to their 2011 EP, The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues. Round 1 was a taste; their 3-song, half hour long journey to bring you up to Future Sequence.
And it's an album that needs a half hour EP intro; it deserves it.
This is an album that reads like a novel. Plain and simple. I remember when I was in elementary school, I would stay up on the weekends reading while in bed. Sometimes I would read 2 books in a night, staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning. I was just that enthralled with what I was reading that I could not put it down. And that is this album. You want it start to finish, in one sitting. No one likes putting down a good book.
When you're reading a book, you read it in order. No one would read chapter 8 before chapter 3. The flow only works in a chronological sequence. You have these big themactic events, all linked together with plot that carries the themes and ideas of the characters in some comprehensive, page-by-page diction. A chapter may stand on it's own, but is much better supported with the rest of the book. Likewise, BTBAM has 5 major events (long songs) that are all linked together with 1-3 minute builds and embellishments; essentially one 72 minute long song. And with swings from one climactic/themeactic event to another, you're constantly at the edge of your seat. You don't know what's up next and it's invigorating. That is what brings you back!
What Future Sequence does is bring together every element you love from BTBAM and intertwines them into something more comprehensive than even Colors. It's softer than previous albums, with more light notes, less distortion, and more singing; it's heavier in places, with more gutteral vocals; and it's more experimental throughout. This is a comprehensive book of what BTBAM has been striving towards, arguably since their conception. This is the perfect marriage of Dream Theater meets iwrestledabearonce meets MR. BUNGLE. It is a balanced indulgence.
All that said, I think a lot of people won't get this. Anything prog is grossly misunderstood; prog-metal all the more. This will be too soft for many, especially fans of early BTBAM. It will be too heavy for many prog fans akin to Dream Theater (though this would be a great entry level into heavier death metal). This will be too experimental for fans of stuff like In Flames. It's not straight forward; it's prog. And that, in and of itself, will alienate people. Who cares? Musical thought thrives in progression.
The only bad thing about this is that it has ruined so much music for me. I think iwabo said it best with their slogan: "Metal just got gay." I never understood the shirts when I first saw them. "Gay" has such a stigma behind it in pop-culture these days. What iwabo is saying is that there is a new era of metal upon us. It's more brutal, more experimental, and more musical to the point that all other metal willl lose it's appeal. And it has. Every once in a while I'll throwback to some Haste the Day or Nodes of Ranvier, but 90% of my metal listening is stuff like BTBAM and iwabo. Have you heard the latests August Burns Red? Granted, it's a Christmas album, but it is absolutely laughable; nothing worth holding your attention.
This is the future of metal. This is the future of prog. This is the future of intellectual music. I could go on, hailing the album with analogous accolades, trying to convey what I want, but you really just need to listen to the album. Sit down, and really listen to it. Give it 72 minutes. Heck, listen to it twice. Anything that can pull off a flute solo in a 10 minute metal song is worth it, if for nothing more than sheer curiousity.
Over the past several weeks, I've been trying to think of my favorite song of the album. Because, ultimately, most people are going to read a review, but only give a single song or two a listen. I won't direct you to any one song in the same way that you wouldn't recommend a single chapter of a book to someone. I will, instead, insist that I recommend this as a book, cover-to-cover, all 72.5 minutes of sheer brilliance.
However, I will leave you with a video of some high school kids who did a cover of one of the tracks. Because, seriously, this arrangement is metal.
What’s the average length of an album these days? Somewhere between 30-40 minutes? Let’s face it, very few people have an attention span beyond that. That’s why the album is dying; it’s more advantageous to just release singles. People can handle 3-4 minutes at a time. The simple-minded can understand that.
So it’s Tuesday (or at least was when I started writing this review). At work, that means country music day, which I vehemently abhor. There are few days worse than a Tuesday. Everything else could be right with the world, but country music just tends to negate all of the beauty in life. So instead of sitting at my desk, subjecting myself to such masochistic torture, I make my Tuesday's death-metal-Tuesday. Ironically, I find death-metal to be relaxing.
On this particular Tuesday, I'm looking for 72.5 minutes of uninterruption. I have plenty of work to fill the time, so I shouldn’t have a reason to get up from my desk. However, as the morning progresses, it becomes more and more apparent that I won’t have my time of solace. Meeting upon design change upon frivolous task pile up and suck me away from my desk. Generally these would be welcome, but I want/need this time in succession.
Throughout the day I resent this. Because you can, in fact, hold my attention for a full album. Listening track by track is not how it should be done. I’m an album guy; tell me a story; paint me a picture. A 3 minute song is a snippet of useless information. Either the album will receive praise or condemnation. I won't revisit an album just for one song. There is no lukewarm, no hit-single, nothing but black and white. And if you can hold my attention through an album, chances are, I will follow that up with the rest of your discography.
So I have tried to reserve this 72.5 minutes to listen to the latest Between the Buried and Me (BTBAM), The Parallax II: Future Sequence. A band that doesn’t believe in hits or 3 minute songs … or 40 minute albums (yes, they have these, but they do not ascribe to the limitations that this narrow-mindedness proposes).This is the sequel to their 2011 EP, The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues. Round 1 was a taste; their 3-song, half hour long journey to bring you up to Future Sequence.
And it's an album that needs a half hour EP intro; it deserves it.
This is an album that reads like a novel. Plain and simple. I remember when I was in elementary school, I would stay up on the weekends reading while in bed. Sometimes I would read 2 books in a night, staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning. I was just that enthralled with what I was reading that I could not put it down. And that is this album. You want it start to finish, in one sitting. No one likes putting down a good book.
When you're reading a book, you read it in order. No one would read chapter 8 before chapter 3. The flow only works in a chronological sequence. You have these big themactic events, all linked together with plot that carries the themes and ideas of the characters in some comprehensive, page-by-page diction. A chapter may stand on it's own, but is much better supported with the rest of the book. Likewise, BTBAM has 5 major events (long songs) that are all linked together with 1-3 minute builds and embellishments; essentially one 72 minute long song. And with swings from one climactic/themeactic event to another, you're constantly at the edge of your seat. You don't know what's up next and it's invigorating. That is what brings you back!
What Future Sequence does is bring together every element you love from BTBAM and intertwines them into something more comprehensive than even Colors. It's softer than previous albums, with more light notes, less distortion, and more singing; it's heavier in places, with more gutteral vocals; and it's more experimental throughout. This is a comprehensive book of what BTBAM has been striving towards, arguably since their conception. This is the perfect marriage of Dream Theater meets iwrestledabearonce meets MR. BUNGLE. It is a balanced indulgence.
All that said, I think a lot of people won't get this. Anything prog is grossly misunderstood; prog-metal all the more. This will be too soft for many, especially fans of early BTBAM. It will be too heavy for many prog fans akin to Dream Theater (though this would be a great entry level into heavier death metal). This will be too experimental for fans of stuff like In Flames. It's not straight forward; it's prog. And that, in and of itself, will alienate people. Who cares? Musical thought thrives in progression.
The only bad thing about this is that it has ruined so much music for me. I think iwabo said it best with their slogan: "Metal just got gay." I never understood the shirts when I first saw them. "Gay" has such a stigma behind it in pop-culture these days. What iwabo is saying is that there is a new era of metal upon us. It's more brutal, more experimental, and more musical to the point that all other metal willl lose it's appeal. And it has. Every once in a while I'll throwback to some Haste the Day or Nodes of Ranvier, but 90% of my metal listening is stuff like BTBAM and iwabo. Have you heard the latests August Burns Red? Granted, it's a Christmas album, but it is absolutely laughable; nothing worth holding your attention.
This is the future of metal. This is the future of prog. This is the future of intellectual music. I could go on, hailing the album with analogous accolades, trying to convey what I want, but you really just need to listen to the album. Sit down, and really listen to it. Give it 72 minutes. Heck, listen to it twice. Anything that can pull off a flute solo in a 10 minute metal song is worth it, if for nothing more than sheer curiousity.
Over the past several weeks, I've been trying to think of my favorite song of the album. Because, ultimately, most people are going to read a review, but only give a single song or two a listen. I won't direct you to any one song in the same way that you wouldn't recommend a single chapter of a book to someone. I will, instead, insist that I recommend this as a book, cover-to-cover, all 72.5 minutes of sheer brilliance.
However, I will leave you with a video of some high school kids who did a cover of one of the tracks. Because, seriously, this arrangement is metal.