Review: Between The Buried And Me – The Great Misdirect

Sergio reviews Between the Buried and Me’s The Great Misdirect.

Artist Name: Between the Buried and Me
Album Name: The Great Misdirect
Year: 2009
Genre: Progressive Metal

Between the Buried and Me’s The Great Misdirect was always going to be compared to their critically acclaimed 2007 release, Colors, yet it’s more of an evolution than just a sequel.

Still retaining their progressive sound and perplexing song structures, BTBAM further push the boundaries of song-writing in the 21st Century. For instance, the track ‘Disease, Injury and Madness’ is divided into various sections: it begins with manic death metal riffs and screams, prior to transforming into a peaceful, atmospheric harmony,  which then evolves into a more classic rock-based crescendo, before exploding into a savage death metal finale, much like the intro. It’s definitely the “bipolar” and genre-transcending nature of the music that makes BTBAM even more unpredictable and exciting – the musical journey is simply unparalleled.

Don’t expect to find any hit singles or commercial songs that will find rotation on MTV – in fact, they’d probably have to make a half-hour music show for just one song.  If you free your mind of the instilled commercial conceptions of music and listen to The Great Misdirect from beginning to end, you’ll begin to understand the genius it took to make such an outstanding and technically-flawless album.

For fans of Protest The Hero, Opeth, The Temper Trap and pretty much any other progressive band from the last century.

Best Tracks: ‘Disease, Injury and Madness’, ‘Desert of Song’, and ‘Mirrors’

93/100

- Sergio Pereira
sergio@musicreview.co.za
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