THE PARALLAX: HYPERSLEEP DIALOGUES

So Between The Buried and Me up until this point made more loose concept albums. Albums that have a connected theme yet no story, thematic in a sense. However in their albums, especially Colors and The Great Misdirect we had songs like Sun Of Nothing and Swim To The Moon having big stories. The band could indeed create something of a concept with their endless array of ideas. So after the release of The Great Misdirect they decided to switch to a new label and create their signature prog rock opera, their Wall or their Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. This story however is a lot more scientific, more galactic. This is the first part of their dual concept album, The Parallax.

This EP sets the stage with Specular Reflection. We get introduced to two main characters, Prospect 1 and Prospect 2. Prospect 1 is on an island and has foggy visions of meeting themself, while Prospect 2 is sent away to a distant planet away from their family for a mission having those same visions. It sets the beginning of this epic pretty well, giving us two distinct yet similar characters. On the musical side of the spectrum, we have a little less of the proggy stuff found on The Great Misdirect but it is definitely more akin to Colors in a way. The song shifts around, having a consistent theme and style, while also finding a sweet spot. The 11 minutes of this song's structure is well defined in trying to find some new ground, something to make this tale stand out from the rest of their epics. In doing so they succeeded, however this song definitely feels very lost in direction. The band clearly wanted a different approach, something that can make this a different album, something that isn't The Silent Circus or Colors, and they definitely succeeded with finding that sweet spot, but in searching it feels like they were going all around to no avail. It is definitely a good song, but it lacks those big and defining moments.

After that is Augment of Rebirth. Here we see the two Prospects bouncing back and forth with each other. They seem to both be aware of their existences despite the fact that they are in separate realities. It sort of plays into the whole fear of a doppelg'nger, someone that looks like you, speaks like you, but may be better than you. The two Prospects fear each other. It is a very excellent way of creating a sort of driving narrative. The song has now reached a good sound, giving a focus more on making technicality based metal and progression. They found their distinct new style for these epics, but they haven't mastered this new direction of sound. It is a great execution, but you can definitely feel them struggling to really focus on the complexities and riffs as opposed to forming something totally new and unbreakable. This is probably due to the change of labels and wanting to get something out as soon as possible, which may have made this EP slightly rushed a tad bit in sound.

The last song here is Lunar Wilderness. The two Prospects leave each other, with Prospect 1 finding out that his own planet is fading away until he seems to uncover some way to cross realities. Prospect 2 however finds out that his planet faded when he was on his mission, which leads him to have a breakdown. Now while the other songs were meandering through a new sound, this time they truly understood what they wanted. We get that truly progressive technicality that this EP truly was reaching towards and grabbed onto. It delivers in a very nice way, having stuff that you can really sink your teeth into, with a very nice ending crescendo. You can definitely feel the band truly perfecting one of their many facets, and it is so nice to hear.

Not the best EP, but this is a pretty good way of starting their long epic. It is a little weird at first but towards the end I can definitely feel them truly making this new direction of sound their own. If you liked the stuff they made before then this is also a great way to spend your time with the band's work. Just a nice EP to set The Parallax story in motion.