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 #154: Hiatus

Our main man from Cali, Tracy G, is working on some sweet projects as always, so listen up!Call off the search parties, Genghis & Ragman have returned from their yearly sabbatical to bring you the latest in all things metal.  Join the boys as they catch up with news, share stories of awkward run-ins with their favorite artists, and deal with the mounting muffin-related issue of having Bane working in the studio with John. Also, catch up with our boy, the one and only Tracy G, who gives us a little preview of one of his many projects, The Robot Lords of Tokyo, and other cool stuff. So, pour a cold one and kick your feet up, cuz the summer's coming to a close and the lads are back in the saddle again...

DVD of the Show:  Jorn Lande - Live In Black

Beer of the Show: Matilda (Goose Island Brewery)
	Appearance: 3.5 Aroma: 3.0 Palate: 3.5 Taste: 3.5 Overall: 3.5	"Goose Island debuts on the show with a nice Belgian Strong Pale Ale that tastes amazing."

Featured Music: Paradox - Day of Judgement; Jorn Lande - We Brought The Angels Down; In The Silence - Serenity; Beatallica - She Came In Through The Bathroom Window; Robot Lords of Tokyo - Great Escape and Broken; Pearl - Mama

Classic of the Show: Raven (with Udo Dirkschneider) - Born To Be Wild

Ragman's Sponsor Pick of the Show: Kingdom Come - God Does Not Sing Our Song

Genghis' Sponsor Pick of the Show: Kamelot - Ashes to Ashes

Ragman's Pick of the Week: Stratovarius - Halcyon Days

Genghis' Pick of the Week: Coma - Don't Set Your Dogs On Me

- Genghis *finally* got around to mixing this show...

Podcast #154: Hiatus

Battlecross - War Of Will

Holy shit this band knows how to rock. Who knew Detroit was hiding talent like this in its dessicated husk of a city? No offense.Detroit maniacs Battlecross have released their latest album, War Of Will, 2 years after their impressive debut Pursuit Of Honor and this sophomore disc is replete with brutal, ass-kicking tunes to satisfy lovers of different genres. From full throttle, Overkill-style thrash, to the harmonized riffage and thrilling shred of melodeath, to the harmonic squeals of Pantera-style Southern metal, Battlecross knows how to fucking rock a room and they're clearly after nothing less than global domination.

As if the disc wasn't impressive enough, they only just entered the studio in March of this year having attacked a year with a relentless thirst for touring that would make grizzled veterans beg for a vacation. It's like they're assassin musician robots from the future with the single mission of destroying [the eardrums and necks of] the human race. Man, I have to quit drinking when I write these things.

The Bottom Line: So imagine Marty McFly (Lamb of God) is in the parking lot during the Enchantment Under The Sea dance with his mom ([old] In Flames) and decides, "what the hell, let's do it, baby". Their paradoxical, time-destroying baby would be named Battlecross. Marinate on that, kids. And if you like headbanging, check out this band!

Tracks That Make A Good Case For Disturbing The Neighbors:  Flesh & Bone, Get Over It and Wage A War

- Genghis did more than a couple of double takes listening to this disc...

Pursuing The End - Symmetry Of Scorn

"You got your Swedish death metal in my Lacuna Coil!" - Prissy guy in frilly white shirt with tattoos.You know as long as I've been listening to and enjoying music of all sorts (going on five decades), it's taken an inordinate amount of time to understand about production and what it can do for a musician's efforts. As it turns out, it may make all the difference in more cases than not. Which brings us to Italy's Pursuing The End (PTE), and their debut studio album, Symmetry Of Scorn. First things first, I love this music. It's much easier in theory to take a given formula like melodic metalcore and weave in pop, electronica and symphonic elements, all fronted by a female singer.

I mean these guys aren't lacking in ambition. They know what they're after and they do it well, with songs that are tight, heavy and appropriately atmospheric - especially in their deft juxtaposition of [lead singer, Maria] Bonfanti's soothing mezzo-soprano and [vocalist, Giacomo] Benamati's gutteral assault (though he does good clean vocals too). My only real complaint has to do with the nature of complex music like this. Like progressive metal, there are a lot of layers going on sonically, and it takes a really good producer/engineer to make sure that everyone gets heard without it becoming muddy. While I thoroughly enjoyed this album, and look forward to hearing more from PTE, I had to tweak the EQ settings quite a bit to hear everything. Still, this is a great new band that's pushing the envelope in the right ways in an otherwise crowded subgenre.

The Bottom Line: If you're one of those people that wishes there was a little more Swedish death metal in your Lacuna Coil then you're likely going to want to check out Pursuing The End. If these guys can get a really great producer for their next album, I predict big things for them.

Tracks For Trying To Get Your Girlfriend Into Metal: Something Remains, In Vain, and Changes

- Genghis really digs the whole chick-fronted metal band thing...