BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME ‘The Silent Circus ’
(Victory Records 2003)
Variety is the spice of life. This old saying seems to fit like a glove in
the hands of a band from North Carolina (USA) called "Between the buried
and me". The band was founded in the early 2000 and "The Silent Circus" is
their first album. You will easily realise that they belong in the
category of the "difficult bands",something that as far as I'm concerned
is more of a plus rather that a minus - but let me explain myself. Most of
the bands nowadays try to establish themselves in the music scene by
adopting a certain style and creating a strong and loyal fan base. On the
other hand you have bands like "Between and buried and me" who are not
afraid to combine different music styles. The result is really
interesting. "The Silent Circus" is divided into three parts: The first
part contains the first three songs of the album, "Lost Perfection -
Coulrophobia", "Anablephobia" and "Camilla Rhodes".
The band displays high technical skills in these three songs which are
mostly influenced by the 80's Swedish Death Metal scene. The fourth song
of the album "Mordecai" is the bridge which connects the first with the
second part of the album, and along with "Reaction" and "Shevanel Take 2"
reveals the melodic and romantic side of the band. Low tempo songs with
acoustic guitars and gang backing vocals which will remind you allot of
Opeth. The last four songs of the album, "Ad a dglgmut", "Destructo Spin",
"Aesthetic" and "The need for repetition" are once again a totally
different story. A combination of American Death Metal and Progressive
Rock, which is very difficult to describe. Keeping in mind that this the
first album of the band i have to say that i am really impressed by the
maturity of the compositions and the technical skills of the band.
As I said in the beginning of this review "Between the buried and me" is a
very "difficult" band. As a consequence this album will not become
appealing in the majority of the metal fans, but I'm pretty sure that this
was not the intention of the band in the first place. I am really
interested to see how their second album will sound - well done guys!
***
Review by John Stefanis
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