Customer Reviews

The Silent Circus

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Describing Between The Buried & Me as "metalcore" would be a grave falsehood. Metalcore influences? Sure. But it would be impossible to overlook the various other influences the band incorporates into this album. The sounds of Radiohead, Death, metal Ulver, Dillinger Escape Plan, Pink Floyd, Pantera, Cryptopsy, and even some Emperor are evident. Does that mean that _The Silent Circus_ is a hackneyed attempt to create something "progressive"? No. In fact, that type of response couldn't be farther from the truth.

The album begins with "Lost Perfection," fading into guitar feedback for 30 seconds or so before unleashing a fury of technical metal for another 40 seconds or so, and then erupting into a wonderful guitar melody. The song also features a "hand clapping breakdown" around the 3-minute mark, and then transitions perfectly into a thick southern metal groove that would make Pantera blush from envy.

That sort of song structure could loosely typify BTBAM's overall sound - grinding, pulsing technical metal, thick grooves, then suddenly bursting into odd breakdowns, gorgeous melodies, or haunting soundscapes. In this respect, BTBAM bring about comparisons to the mighty Opeth. That comparison is probably just, due to the "night and day" aspect of the bands' respective music. But that's where the similarities end, really. BTBAM crafts darker, heavier, more intense "heavy" parts than Opeth could ever imagine, with some of the best vocals around, complements of Tommy Rogers (who also adds texture on keyboard); the band also creates some of the most ethereal musical moments I can imagine, featuring layers of keyboards, soft drum beats, soulful bass, and lightly strummed guitars, whereas Opeth relies mostly on beautiful acoustic arrangements to contrast their form of black/death metal.

In comparison to the band's self-titled debut, this album is darker and heavier. The drumming is still absolutely OUTRAGEOUS, despite the fact that former drummer Will Goodyear has been replaced. New drummer (and sadly, now ex-drummer) Mark Castillo is a freaking monster. His talent is frightening. His drumming here is some of the most amazing I've heard. The guitar and bass playing here is still mind-blowing. Bassist Jason King lays down some of the coolest grooves ever, plays a solo or two, and plays PERFECTLY with the two guitarists, Nick Fletcher and Paul Waggoner. The trio is one of the most original and exciting I've heard. In addition to the chilling death vox, vocalist Tommy Rogers is also capable of some of the most breathtaking clean vocals this side of Mikael Akerfeldt.

_The Silent Circus_ is definitely one of the most "progressive" albums I've heard, as well as a new all-time favorite album of mine. There is no band I know of right now that makes music as engaging, fresh, and exciting as BTBAM. Buy this or perish, sweater monkeys.

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME - The Silent Circus
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This is one of the rare 5 Stars I've given. This is an onslaught of Metal, Jazz, Chaos and Talent. It is such a well-crafted yet vicious album. The contrast between, beauty and chaos has only been surpassed by a few great artists. (Such as Opeth) From the opening track Lost Perfection to the closer, The Need For Repetition. This album holds your ears hostage. And regardless of how intense the aural attack is there is always a glimmer of beauty around the corner waiting to give your ears a brief rest before the chaos comes back in. There is little else I can say that hasn't been said.
Best Tracks: Lost Perfection, Camilla Rhodes, Ad A Dglgmut (<-Absolute Perfection)
For those not scared to expand their listening pleasures: BUY THIS ALBUM
-5 Starts


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This album... wait... this band pretty much owns everyone in the talent department. This is pretty much one of the most well put together albums I've ever heard... and I don't usually like stuff this heavy. First of all... everyone in the band has a copywrite on their instruments... and no one else should be allowed to play anything after what these guys do. The drummer is pretty much insane... and owns the double bass. The guitarists play some of the most retarded chord progressions and make them sound amazing. Insanely technical. The singer has one of the widest ranges I've heard... deep growls(which I'm not a fan of), high pitched screams, an amazingly beautiful melodic singning voice. On top of all this are pretty good lyrics and an insane live performance... if you don't know about BTBAM yet... you need to get to know them

The driving force behind Between The Buried And Me's second masterpiece comes from Tommy Rogers bizarre and creative song lyrics, Paul Waggoner's amazing guitar riffs and Mark Castillo's superb drumming. Please do not label this band as a metal band, because they stray as far away from a typical metal band as ever thought possible. Tempo changes galore, most songs are just constantly shifting metalcore riffs and beats, it's all insane, but it does slow down in the middle of the album to deliver an amazing acoustic-driven ballad, then launching again into full blown metalcore chaos. It is unlike anything you'll ever hear because these guys are just such great musicians. This re-release includes a DVD with a full BTBAM concert in North Carolina, their hometown, plus most of their music videos. If you consider yourself a fan of hard music, then you should most definitely own this album.

Between the Buried and Me is the future of extreme music. Imagine taking Opeth, Cryptopsy, Converge and Lamb of God all into one. This band is amazing. With a progressive nature towards their metalcore sound, they are original. They're not a band that overuses melody or breakdowns, nope, they balance it out at the right level. Just listen to one track off this album and you will know what I'm talking about. Whether it is the chaotic-turned-to-a-ballad esque melody of "Mordecai", the "Lost Perfection" double tracks that begin this CD, or even the excellent intro guitar work on "Aesthetic", this disc will definitely leave an imprint in your mind. Recommended for the open minded.

Between the Buried and Me is the future of extreme music. Imagine taking Opeth, Cryptopsy, Converge and Lamb of God all into one. This band is amazing. With a progressive nature towards their metalcore sound, they are original. They're not a band that overuses melody or breakdowns, nope, they balance it out at the right level. Just listen to one track off this album and you will know what I'm talking about. Recommended.

well, since many people look at what genre a band is put into, and pretty much decide then and there, whether they like them or not, to do so with this band would be unfair, as would be calling them a metalcore band, or even just progcore. I would have to say that this band is the one and only memeber of a group I'd like to call "Progressive Tech-Deathmetalcore". If someone described any band like that to me, I would undoubtedly check them out.

That being said, I would like to describe the music more in-depth. This stuff is brutal, yet beautiful at the same time. Whether grinding away, or sttrumming out a ballad, they seem to feel perfectly at ease. In my opinion, to get the best feeling for the music, you've got to listen to the entire album all together. This record, is indeed, 53 minutes of pure songwriting genius. the whole CD is put together as if it were telling a story, with the songs seemlessly fitting together.

The first track starts off with about half a minute of building guitar feedback, preparing you for the pummeling that your ears are about to take. for the first 3 and a half tracks, this is pure, blistering chaos. Then, halfway through the 4th track, the music takes a turn with beautiful melodic lead guitar work,and amazingly uplifting vocals. this leads into the "interlude" of the album, with track 5 being a short ambient track with acoustic guitars coming in near the end. followed perfectly by a strummed out ballad in track 6. Just when you think you're ready to crank the volume back up, Track 7 comes back with the full force that they displayed in the first few tracks. This track has some great melodic leadwork towards the end, as well, and then tracks 8,9, and 10 finish the bludgeoning that the first few tracks started.

This stuff may be a bit of a difficult, even exhausting listen to the faint of heart, or those who are just getting into heavy music, but once you've given it some time, you will realize that this album is probably some of the most astonishingly beautiful music ever crafted. Who says heavy music can't be art?

Proggressive death metalcore. Between the Buried and me have managed to do it again, although this time it sounds completely different from their self titled cd. This cd makes your brain hurt when you try and comprehend how they go about writing songs like these. Their breakdowns are simply unsurpassed by anyone, mostly because there are so many in each song and couldnt possibly be more brutal. Never have I heard such a wide array of any lead vocalist's screams before, Tommy goes from the highest pitch scream and holds it for thirty seconds then right after immediately starts a grumbling noise thats almost is if he is about to throw up. Mark the new drummer is a little double kick happy, but you know you love it and how amazingly technical he is. At times youd think it was a machine playing drums theyre so fast. Paul Waggoner is god, he shouldnt be allowed to be that good at guitar, not to take away from the other guitarist but he is amazing. Listen to this cd and see them live, the best part about them live is that it sounds exactly the same as it does on the cd, tones and everything. Get this cd and their self titled cd if youre tired of listening to stuff that sounds the same, there is no other band that comes close to mixing such a wide variety of music types into one incredible cd.

First off - dont listen to any of the people on here that gave this album less than five stars... if they dont like this then they obviously dont like heavy music. This album is outright amazing, I have owned it for about four years already and it never gets old. Between the Buried and me create music that will give you the chills... when is the last time you can say you got chills from listening to a cd? Between the buried and me are gods from start to finish on any full length they have made (except maybe the cover album which wasnt really for me.) If you like heavy music... get it... if you dont... get it...if your deaf... get it.

This album is often heavy in the best possible way...but occassionaly meanders into schlock. "Ad A Dglgmut" is a good example of the sound of the album as a whole..it's one of the heaviest songs I have ever heard...until halfway through when it transforms into a song that Live would have recorded in 1996. Ugh.

Seriously, though...85% of this album is brutal, with awesome death-influenced vocals and insane musicianship, and will satisfy nearly any fan of death/progressive/extreme metal out there. Be warned, however...this album occassionally lapses into quesitonable territory. This questionable territory encompases feeble attempts at ambience with clean vocals and acoustic guitar. Three songs are examples of this: "Reaction" and "Shevanel Take 2" are BORING, as is the forementioned second half of "Ad A Dglgmut". It's not that clean vocals and quiet interludes are bad things...bands like Opeth have built a career out of getting loud/soft/loud dynamics right, and Between the Buried and Me themselves get it right (if only for a moment) on "Mordecai" off of this very album...

...it's just that the vocalist's voice just isn't strong enough when he's actually singing. It's thin and a bit whiney. In other words, annoying. The clean vocals often accent the relative weakness of the lyrics, too. Fortunately, the singer's death vocals are great, so most of the time you can't understand what he's singing anyway. Therefore, the lyrics are largely inconsequential most of the time.

Why the four-star review? 80% of this album is awesomely heavy...awesomely heavy enough for me to forgive the band for their pitiful attempts to try and be Opeth or Isis. Go forth and rock, but keep your finger on the "skip" button when the moments of peril arrive.