COLORS

1. Foam Born:The Backtrack (2:13) 2. The Decade Of Statues (5:20) 3. Informal Gluttony (6:47) 4. Sun Of Nothing (10:59) 5. Ants Of The Sky (13:10) 6. Prequel To The Sequel (8:36) 7. Viridian (2:51) 8. White Walls (14:13)

Now this came to me gently. Between The Buried And Me have never really been a band to catch my interest over the past few years, but after this album I had to reconsider. Before this album, I never really saw what fans saw, but now they have sophisticated their previous sound, I can finally see the dubbed down version fans of this great band see. Their previous release Alaska was a pretty good effort now actually after I've heard Colors. It's a bit like Colors Light. Not as technical, not as brutal and not as... well good. I truly believe this is album of 2007, if not, prog-metal album of 2007 to say the least. There is almost everything here that a prog-metalhead looks for in a band: brutality, technicality, excellent musicianship peppered with beautiful sections of melody.

The song Foam Born introduces us to a contrasting factor to the album: a delicate piano intro with beautiful clean vocals, something you will hardly ever hear again in Colors. We are then bombarded with what has to be some of the most brutal, technical and progressive metalcore material around. This first song may well be my favourite. I don't know. It's so hard to pick a favourite from such a consistant album as Colors. I have to say though, watch out for the technical jazz section at the closing of this: your brain may explode.

Informal Gluttony opens gently once again, revealing the progressive nature of this band. Tribal drumming in a triple rhythm provides excellent backing for one of metal's more awesome basslines and a Bangra-esque guitar line to much. We are once again, blinded by terrific technical metalcore. This is no improvement on its prequel, but no degradation either.

Sun Of Nothing may well be my least favourite track here. But is a ruby amongst diamonds, and once again I'll say it: with such a consistant album no song really sticks out. This song also happens to have a stunning outro. Need a say more? Have a listen for yourself. This is the first epic track off the album, clocking in at 11 minutes, and it is a voyage that competes worthily against any standard prog epic.

Now we are talking people! Ants Of The Sky is a masterpiece. I use it in the tightest sense of the word. I have listened to much prog metal in my time (nowhere near enough however) and this is fantastic compared to the entirety of the sub-genre. We are treated to a Dream Theatre-esque organ riff, only BTBAM pull it off much better. We are also treated to the bands highlight riff, which is so good it hurts. We are treated to a face melting guitar solo. We are also treated to technicallity like no other, an extremely catchy melody and a metal-style hoedown to end it all. If you are a prog metal fan, and you do not like this song, then there is no hope.

Prequel To The Sequel introduces a major key to the prog metal world, which as most of you will know, is a seldom phenomenan. It is also very 70s for the first minute or so of the song. Kusos to the band for retracing their roots. Then, once again, a progressive onslaught. Features of this song include a very short, mellow jazz section that is augmented by a repeat in the heavy vein, some kind of... thing i can't describe with an accordion and a marvellous vocal duel. Great stuff.

Veridian. A nice interlude between two epics, unlike most fillers in prog metal, this is extremely pleasant to listen to. Classical meet Progressive Grindcore meets Camel? Who knows. Worth spending 3 minutes on though, definitely.

A technical mess awaits you at the other side. White Walls couldn't possibly be a better finale to an ultra-heavy, ultra technical and ultra-progressive album, since it is an ultra-heavy, ultra technical and ultra-progressive song. 14 minutes of pure prog-metal fan wet dream and you will listen to it more than once, I grant you. My play count is 30 so far for this track, and I've only had the album for a week. We see influence in Meshuggah, Camel, Floyd, Death... This also may be a worthy best track off the album for me. But then again so may the other 5. I can't decide.

Despite what I've said in the realm of the positive, I do not consider this a masterpiece of progressive music. If I did, then what would I have to say about the next album? No, this is just purely excellent. No questions, but every metal fan must own it. Period. 4.4999999 stars.