Between the Buried and Me – The Parallax II: Future Sequence (2012)

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As one of the most ridiculously epic Progressive releases of 2012, today we have Between the Buried and Me’s “The Parallax II: Future Sequence”. As one of the most unique and non-conforming bands in the American Metal scene, BTBM has been constantly changing over the years, but with this release they have reached the pinnacle of their career and produced and album that won’t easily be equaled, let alone surpassed.

Mixing their own brand of Progressive Metal with some harsh elements, most of the core-crap is totally gone, the band delivers completely hypnotic tracks that will puzzle some, and amaze most. Opening with the Cynic-like “Goodbye to Everything”, the band starts hinting at a very sonically pleasing release with the instrumentation and excellent production values. This is immediately felt present with the Dream Theater-esque “Astral Body”. Borrowing from progressive greats like Yes, DT, Magus, etc., the band truly makes these influences their own and shapes them in their own weird ways to craft very intricate and engaging songs.

While the crappy core-ish screams are still present in epic songs like “Lay Your Ghosts to Rest” is the rest of the music that makes this album amazing. This track in particular feels like a more Progressive version of something the Diablo Swing Orchestra would have crafted. Not being afraid of experimentation and diversity, we enjoy tracks like “Extremophile Elite” that combine both harsh/heavy sections with lush Progressive brilliance.

Our favorite track is the mellow “Melting City”, a song that reminds us of a cracked-out combination of Ayreon with Ulver (something that would NEVER happen). Nearing its climax, the band delivers “Silent Flight Parliament”, an epic progressive track with very aggressive guitars and amazing drumming. In songs like this one is where one can really listen how well produced and album is, since everything fells perfectly mixed and sounds like a million dollars on a good sound system.

We are blown away by the quality of such an album. The band’s musical skills know no boundaries, and they clearly show it on this masterpiece. If you are a fan of Progressive Music and don’t mind a few growls here and there, we are sure this will most likely make your top 10 of the year. For Metalheads expecting Mallcore… this is far from it. We are completely perplexed by the skills presented in this release and we are sure almost anybody would find it as impressive as we did.

Band: Between the Buried and Me Album: The Parallax II: Future Sequence
Label: Metal Blade Records

Release: October 9th, 2012

Oficial Site myspace

Genre: Progressive Metal

Country: USA

Rating: 92/100
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