THE GREAT MISDIRECT

Well, now, what do we have here? Despite all the hype, this one still came as a surprise to me. I felt their previous releases were lacking something, somehow feeling at once a bit disconnected and monotonous. But with this one, Between the Buried and Me has pulled it all together. This album, start to finish, amazes, enthralls, captivates and transports the listener.

Has BTBAM moved closer to songwriting that fits my taste, or have my tastes evolved to allow me to like this band? Probably a little of both. I'll admit to being one of those people who really disliked anything with cookie monster vocals. Opeth changed that for me, and bands like BTBAM have followed on their coattails and I've been the one to reap the benefits. The key for me is song structure and the dichotomy between the growling vocals and clean passages. No one does it better than Opeth, but BTBAM has come closer for me than any other band to pulling this off successfully. It's as if Gabriel-era Genesis and Death (the band) had two children. The first was named Opeth, the second Between the Buried and Me.

5 stars? Yes. This is as good as it gets.