WonkaVision Album Review #2
Between the Buried and Me - “The Great Misdirect”
Just as a lazy percussionist will ruin even the best of bands (see my Pelican review), a creative and motivated drummer can, conversely, bring unadulterated and hyperbolically Jovian success to almost any group of competent musicians-or in the case of Between the Buried and Me-a group of highly skilled prodigies.
Sadly, there was only a one track (divided into two parts) promo-disc for me to listen to from their forthcoming album “The Great Misdirect” which is to be released on the 26 of October through Victory Records. If the quality of this track is a sound approximation of the whole record, it bodes well for the post-traumatic stress that’s currently afflicting the music industry as it rocks back and forth in its rape-huddle trying to find new reasons to wake up each day.
In “Mirrors”, the first part of the track, Paul Waggoner and Dustie Waring make spot-on use of the whammy bar; the detuned chords creating a textured backdrop for their signature minor to major key changes that really shape the feel of the picture. It sounds like Ennio Morricone twisted into progressive, moody jazz. And time and time again, I cannot stress enough the importance of drumming that is not a trite act of banality and laziness, and Blake Richardson is anything but lazy behind his kit: his bombastic flow is accentuated by exceptional hi-hat and tom work, incorporating elements of funk, jazz, and invoking the likes of Danny Carey and Bill Bruford.
The latter half of part two “Obfuscation” is Tool-like with its lurchy, overlapping bass line and unique part-changing: a boast that many bands clamor for, but scarcely ever achieve. It’s important to understand how BTBAM has achieved this honorable appraisal: it’s due to the lack of laziness in their musicianship. There is a direct correlation between laziness and low quality part writing, and that’s the key here-part writing. These men are explorers who have assumed the pose of The Lord Initiating, gazed into the Hermit’s lantern, cast their seed into the field of night, and emerged with the knowledge of their True Wills. This intensity is not externally derived and is therefore like unto a diamond; it is cold, hard, and brilliant in design and construct-no lapses in effort and no motion without its purpose. This generates evolution among the mind of the practitioner; it is self-evident in the creation they manifest.
The lyrical content implies an advanced understanding of the archetypal symbolism of the Devil, The Universe, and Adjustment; the duty of those with advanced knowledge of objective judgment to level the egos of those malformed of will. The lines “As humans we could never be content with knowing all, yet we can’t be content with the fact our brains will never know…a technical drawback. Pushing us further from our natural minds.” are strong lamentations of the conscious mind’s subjective bondage; philosophies which are confusing and unintelligible to those without the psychic capacity to grasp at such subconsciously grounded concepts-the profane and uninitiated swine will continue staring blindly at the string of pearls.
As a magus, one learns to understand the power lying within the spheres of obfuscation and illusion as they’re exerted upon the sensual perception of a weaker mind. For a band surrounded by a culture of monkeys poking at mirrors and a youth composite so desperate for instantaneous identification with any aesthetic posture or tendency within their spastic grasp, it’s simple to see why Tommy Rogers has chosen to write such important words for such a diluted Æon. I’m continually grateful for this band’s existence. They are the consummate embodiment of creative priapism.
[By: Steven DiEva]
Rating: 4.5/5
Release Date: October 26, 2009
Just as a lazy percussionist will ruin even the best of bands (see my Pelican review), a creative and motivated drummer can, conversely, bring unadulterated and hyperbolically Jovian success to almost any group of competent musicians-or in the case of Between the Buried and Me-a group of highly skilled prodigies.
Sadly, there was only a one track (divided into two parts) promo-disc for me to listen to from their forthcoming album “The Great Misdirect” which is to be released on the 26 of October through Victory Records. If the quality of this track is a sound approximation of the whole record, it bodes well for the post-traumatic stress that’s currently afflicting the music industry as it rocks back and forth in its rape-huddle trying to find new reasons to wake up each day.
In “Mirrors”, the first part of the track, Paul Waggoner and Dustie Waring make spot-on use of the whammy bar; the detuned chords creating a textured backdrop for their signature minor to major key changes that really shape the feel of the picture. It sounds like Ennio Morricone twisted into progressive, moody jazz. And time and time again, I cannot stress enough the importance of drumming that is not a trite act of banality and laziness, and Blake Richardson is anything but lazy behind his kit: his bombastic flow is accentuated by exceptional hi-hat and tom work, incorporating elements of funk, jazz, and invoking the likes of Danny Carey and Bill Bruford.
The latter half of part two “Obfuscation” is Tool-like with its lurchy, overlapping bass line and unique part-changing: a boast that many bands clamor for, but scarcely ever achieve. It’s important to understand how BTBAM has achieved this honorable appraisal: it’s due to the lack of laziness in their musicianship. There is a direct correlation between laziness and low quality part writing, and that’s the key here-part writing. These men are explorers who have assumed the pose of The Lord Initiating, gazed into the Hermit’s lantern, cast their seed into the field of night, and emerged with the knowledge of their True Wills. This intensity is not externally derived and is therefore like unto a diamond; it is cold, hard, and brilliant in design and construct-no lapses in effort and no motion without its purpose. This generates evolution among the mind of the practitioner; it is self-evident in the creation they manifest.
The lyrical content implies an advanced understanding of the archetypal symbolism of the Devil, The Universe, and Adjustment; the duty of those with advanced knowledge of objective judgment to level the egos of those malformed of will. The lines “As humans we could never be content with knowing all, yet we can’t be content with the fact our brains will never know…a technical drawback. Pushing us further from our natural minds.” are strong lamentations of the conscious mind’s subjective bondage; philosophies which are confusing and unintelligible to those without the psychic capacity to grasp at such subconsciously grounded concepts-the profane and uninitiated swine will continue staring blindly at the string of pearls.
As a magus, one learns to understand the power lying within the spheres of obfuscation and illusion as they’re exerted upon the sensual perception of a weaker mind. For a band surrounded by a culture of monkeys poking at mirrors and a youth composite so desperate for instantaneous identification with any aesthetic posture or tendency within their spastic grasp, it’s simple to see why Tommy Rogers has chosen to write such important words for such a diluted Æon. I’m continually grateful for this band’s existence. They are the consummate embodiment of creative priapism.
[By: Steven DiEva]
Rating: 4.5/5
Release Date: October 26, 2009