Between The Buried And Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence

How have I never gotten more into this band before? Between The Buried and Me rocks the shit out of the concept album.Developing a story line they began with their EP, The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues, North Carolinians Between The Buried and Me (BTBAM) have released their first concept record, The Parallax II: Future Sequence, replete with everything you'd expect from such a project: extended jams, atmospheric vocals, and indecipherable monologues from the story's cast of characters. But don't worry, it's a great album…

Having been around since the turn of the century, BTBAM has managed to coalesce a variety of musical influences into an interesting melange of progressive and death metal, with touches of everything from Smashing Pumpkins to Queen to The Beatles. Pulling it off without sounding like it's all crammed in there for the sake of having it in there is what sets BTBAM apart from a lot of other bands. And The Parallax II: Future Sequence presents a deft application of this talent over the course of its 72 minutes and 42 seconds.

What stands out for me, having not listened to BTBAM before, is their ability to move between an authentic modern death metal sound to movie soundtrack to progressive metal jams in a way that serves the story of the album with a good sense of forward momentum; tracks like Autumn, Parallax and Goodbye to Everything provide the perfect amount of space in between massive tracks like Lay Your Ghosts To Rest and Extremophile Elite. In less capable hands I could see this sort of experiment quickly becoming muddled and (ultimately) ignored, but the fearless lads of BTBAM handle this insanity like pros.

The Bottom Line: Throw the psychedelic vocals of latter-day Beatles, the spaced out metal of Mastodon, the intricate arrangements of Dream Theater, and the brutality of death metal into a pot, stir, and let simmer for a little over an hour. Set the table, and sit down to a satisfying meal of concept album rock courtesy of the mad geniuses of Between The Buried And Me.

Tracks to Listen, this is an old school concept album jam, so do this right: Get baked, plug in your best pair of [over the ear] headphones, light some incense and candles, turn out the lights, lay down on the living room floor, and crank this motherfucker up, you savvy?

- Genghis has a favorite new album…

Bangladeafy - The Briefcase

It's kind of crazy that there're aren't more metallic fusion bands around, but then again how many people play like this?If you’re one of those people that’s into the kind of jazz metal that makes most progressive music seem like a Miley Cyrus song, you might be looking for a band like Bangladeafy. Their latest EP, The Briefcase, is collection of short (all but one clock in under three minutes), frenetic tunes that sound a bit like Les Claypool after an 8-ball with a drum machine synched up to him.

But don’t let that pithy description give you the impression that the NYC duo of Atif Haq (drums) and Jon Ehlers (bass/keyboards/vocals) are without finesse and a whole lot of talent. Haq’s blazing staccato snare work is incredible in a kind of “this-isn’t-a-drum-machine?” way. And Ehlers’ bass work is quite simply jaw-dropping when you see it.

The Briefcase may be short, but the music is intense and shows a variety of melodic moods; Show Me The Gold evokes the European flair of spaghetti western soundtracks even at its breakneck pace. And tunes like Tubes can veer off into an almost metal vibe where things get a little brutal while maintaining a sense of melodicism.

The Bottom Line: Like Metal Blade’s Trioscapes, Bangladeafy is another band comprised of talented musicians melding the fury of heavy metal with the sophistication and melody of jazz fusion into something amazing and different. Check them out.

Tracks to Make You Headbang Your Pork Pie Hat Off: Tubes, Show Me The Gold, Fruit Flies

- Genghis was awestuck by Bangladeafy's Show Me The Gold video... 

Podcast #157: Hotter

With this many Norsemen in this band, it's an umlaut festival up in this pieceWhere did metal come from? Think back and try to figure out when this whole thing started. There are vicious cycles and bastardizations that music always goes through, but where did it all come from? Join Genghis and Ragman as they discuss where the roots of metal came from. And which is hotter, the classics or the retro movement? Next, the boys cornered The Resistance vocalist Marco Aro for a one on one who discusses how he hooked up with Jesper Strombland (In Flames) and created their debut record Scars.

The amazing Udo Dirkschneider has been active in the biz as long as I've been alive. Holy shit.The BONUS PLAN: The boys tackle the topic of charity in metal. Is it necessary, or just a ploy to sell more CD’s? And one of metal's elder statesmen, Udo Dirkschneider, checks in from the road to talk about his band’s latest release Steelhammer. It's another metal extravaganza from TRTR!

Editor’s Note: This show is expected to offend. Please listen at your own risk!

DVD of the Show: Iron Maiden - Maiden In England

Beer of the Show: Spéciale Belge (Brasserie Dupont)
	Appearance: 3.5 Aroma: 2.5 Palate: 3.0 Taste: 2.5 Overall: 2.5	"In a spate of lackluster beers lately, this ale from one of our favorite Belgian brewers is kind of a disappointment."

Featured Tracks: Witchcraft - Flag of Fate; Iron Maiden - The Clairvoyant; Falling In Reverse - The Drug In Me is You; The Resistance - Face to Face, Expand to Expire, The Serpent King, Warmonger and Scars; HSAS - Missing You; Who Cares - Out of My Mind; Kiss - Hotter Than Hell; Grimus - The Vulture; UDO - Artificialized, Metal Machine and A Cry of a Nation

Classic of the Show: Manowar - The Gods Made Heavy Metal

Ragman’s Pick of the Show: The Resistance - Eye For an Eye

Genghis’ Pick of the Show: Cynthesis - Convergence

- Ragman is on a roll, but just shot his wad. [G - Which is why you don't post your whole backlog once a week, bro.] Need to record some new shows...

Podcast #157: Hotter

Ministry - From Beer to Eternity

Ministry is one of those bands, I followed religiously, during the late 80's through the mid 90's, but for some reason, they fell off my radar.  I feel like they peaked on Psalm 69 and then after that, I became disinterested.  I checked things out, from time to time, but for some reason it didn't grasp me like the earlier material.  It wasn't until the release of their documentary Fix, a few years back, that my interest peaked again.  Fast forward a few years, and the band has just released their 13th studio album From Beer to Eternity.  Al Jorgensen, contends that this is the band's swansong, but this isn't the first time he has uttered those words.  He has been threatening to shut the band down, since 2011.  This may be it though, with the recent passing of guitarist Mike Scaccia.  The guitarist died shortly after the CD was recorded and was not only an integral part of the band, but also a very close friend of Jorgensen.

From Beer to Eternity may be the most complete Ministry CD, of their career.  It encompasses all that the band has been about, musically, into one solid release. There are also some surprises on the CD, like the reggae tinged Thanx but, No Thanx, which is classic Ministry with a island vibe to it.  I also dug the funky/soul inspired Lesson Unlearned.  There is a lot of variety on this CD, which kept me hooked throughout.  It has all of the heavy elements, of the band from the early 90's, with a couple of twists.  If this, indeed, ends up being the last Ministry album, at least they went out on a high note.

Bottom Line: Ministry sounding better that they have in years.  A solid album from start to finish.  Classic elements of Ministry mixed with some new ideas.  Essential for all Ministry fans.

Standout Tracks: Lesson Unlearned, Change of Luck, Punch in the Face and Change of Luck

- Ragman enjoyed this one much more than he initially thought he would and that is a good thing!

Sinner - Touch of Sin 2

What do you do, if you don't own your own music anymore.  Re-record it!  That seems to be the new trend, for bands that got screwed back in the day,  The latest band to do that was Sinner.  Sinner have just hand picked 11 tracks, from their past, to re-record for their latest release, Touch of Sin 2.  As a bonus, the band has also included 3 new tracks to get the tally of the CD up to 14 tracks.  Pretty sweet.  Of the new tracks, my favorite is their cover of the Thin Lizzy classic Don't Believe a Word.  The band has put a new spin on this classic, and it works.   The other new track to kick my ass, is Blood in the Sand, which also pays homage to Thin Lizzy.  There are some nice guitar harmonies, ala Gorham and Robertson.  It is no secret, that Mat is a Lizzy fan and he does some fitting tributes on this release.

I have to say I really dug the re-records as well.  To be honest, I didn't discover Sinner until the mid-90's, on the The Nature of Evil record, so the material on this disk, was pretty new to me.  There are some really strong tracks, like the opener Born to Rock, which starts off with a killer heavy riff, reminiscent of classic Accept.  The next track to grab my ear was the mid-tempo rocker, Knife in my Back.  It is a killer tune, with a catchy melody and chorus.  That is the thing about this CD, every track has that winning formula.  The only knock, that I can give the record, is that some of the lyrics are a bit cheesey, but you do have to remember, these tracks were written in the 80's.  This one will make old fans happy and hopefully win over some new recruits.

 

Bottom Line: Sinner breathing life into some forgotten treasures.  This is a solid release from start to finish.  Take the cheese factor our of the lyrics and this one contends to be one of the stronger releases from Sinner, in some time.

Tracks to give the Horns Up to: Born to Rock, Don't Believe a Word, Knife in My Heart and Shout.

-Ragman wished that other re-records came out this well.  Nice job lads!