THE PARALLAX II - FUTURE SEQUENCE

The best metal album ever made.

Yeah, I said it.

The best metal album ever made (although Metallica's S&M is a close second, but that's a live disc so I'm not sure that counts).

Now, I'm not an idiot. I understand attaching words like "best" or "greatest" to anything is going to piss people off, because, frankly, these words are subjective at best, opinionated. So before I continue, these are the descriptors I use to determine the "best" out of an album:

It has to have an original sound. It has to display a wide variety of emotions. It needs to be able to tell some kind of story or tale. If the songs are connected or intertwined, they need to transition smoothly. The sound quality needs to be otherworldly, superb and top-notch. There needs to be a delicate but mastered balance of each facet of the band's signature sound, regardless of style or genre. It has to provide something new on each listen (or manage to be a timeless sound). And most importantly, there needs to be sections that instantly catch ones ear so that the novelty never wears off, something you'd put on repeat over and over again.

This album encompasses all these criteria in stunning and excellent fashion. Granted, it's not perfect (nothing is), but in terms of the zenith of just how far one can take a flexible genre like metal and still keep it within the bounds of accessibility, nothing beats "Future Sequence". I look at reviews of this band here, and 95% of them state in the beginning how most of them don't care much for progressive metalcore or the like, and yet BTBAM is a rare exception they can listen to.

That's probably the most impressive feat of all. Explore the very edge of the boundaries that are physically possible, and yet still appeal to non-metal enthusiasts? Even 10 years ago that would've seemed too good to be true.

The intro, "Goodbye To Everything", is your typical BTBAM soft, pretty intro. Before singer Tommy Giles Rogers went sing crazy on "Coma Elliptic", this is was his most adventurous in terms of his singing exploits, and even here it's a remarkable improvement over his frankly lifeless singing on "Colors". It doesn't take long for that to come and go and the catchy tune, "Astral Body", to burst into life and develop around a catchy 8-note guitar lick that signals a build in tension, a sign that "Baby, you're in for a real treat if you hang in there for the next hour or so."

Right away, I can tell there's a more melodic focus, despite a good abundance of screaming, which doesn't bother me much. Rogers' screaming is entirely unique, but it doesn't destroy my ears, which is good. The focus on staying heavy is there, but exploring more elaborate melodies seems to be the key, with drummer Blake Richardson throwing in some elaborate polyrhythms without having to go too mental. At least, before the blastbeats come in the second half of the song. Still, the choruses sound thoroughly composed, spectacles and fantastic arriving points in themselves, as if each one is designed to be the finale of a great epic saga or story, and "Astral Body" only presents the first of many to come.

"Lay Your Ghosts To Rest" is a bit longer than "Astral Body", almost twice as long (and honestly, I'm sure the lyrics are gripping, I care more about the music itself). Apart from that, it's a typical BTBAM double-minute gobstopper. The heavy theme only lasts for about a minute and a half before we're introduced to a sort waltzy circus kind of groove, before we're kicked out and get front row seats to another Rogers chorus of wonder and mystique. The clean and heavy sections still kick in abruptly back and forth, like you're a soccer ball and you're just getting kicked from one side of the pitch to another, but the transitions still don't feel as jarring as on "Colors", and nor does it feel as chaotic either. Controlled is more like it this time around.

"Ghosts" definitely feels like the most hectic and angry of the lot, apart from the almost pseudo-surf rock ditties and circus rock breakdown. I guess it's a good think the circus breakdown is immediately followed by a relaxing verse from Rogers' gentle croon and a nice guitar lick over a nice, soft waltz groove. And then we're back out into the light into a few extra heavy fills before the chorus returns once again and fades out into the atmospheric "Autumn", concluding the section of the album. In short, it's another typically constructed BTBAM song. Explores the diverse range of emotions, transitions are wonderfully executed, but it doesn't feel abrupt or jarring, but it does feel like a story being aurally told. Whatever the story actually is, I don't know, and honestly, I don't quite care. It's just brilliant.

"Extremophile Elite" is perhaps one of my favorite BTBAM tracks of all time, mostly from the fact the song's theme is Middle-Eastern based, and I'm a sucker for exotic scales and chords of the Middle-Eastern variety. The chorus is quite catchy too, the b-theme roughly 3 minutes is tasty, and about 2 minutes from the end, you'll notice a sort of c-theme underneath a sitar sample as Rogers' is stuttering through his "Walking into a certain state of walking..." verse, which, for fans of BTBAM is the same verse and rhythmic progression from "Specular Reflection", off their "Hyperspace Dialogues" 3-track ep. Same verse, key and progression, but on this album it has a more exotic flair to it, obviously. It's gripping and engaging throughout, and it just pumps me up everytime I listen to it. Maybe it's just because I'm weird, but something about this particular song is just so special, it's one of my most listened to tracks ever on my computer.

I also love the transition into "Parallax", the fade into almost distant nothing, and the subtle intro of the piano in "The Black Box", right before the band kicks back into high gear and foreshadows a future of beatdowns in "Telos". Even though Telos isn't my favorite, there are some juicy phases, such as that almost psuedo-Samba groove break2 minutes in signaled by the whistle. The heavy stuff doesn't last long til at 3:15, the soft groove begins, and the sexy time starts making its magic. This section lasts for most of the remainder of the song, and the buildup to the big chorus is phenomenal, and when Rogers sings "Rebirth, reborn", it's quite possible one of the most surreal aural moments ever to grace my ears. It's triumphant, it's terrifying, and it doesn't last long before the quick heavy them from the beginning retakes the lead and throws me for a loop, and onslaught that lasts the remaining 2:30 of the song.

"Bloom" is quite unusual though. Apart from "The Ecoptic Stroll" off Coma Elliptic, it's one of Roger's most unusual singing performances. Not that that's a bad thing, and I kinda like the surf rock theme the band churns out as well. The transition into "Melting City" is kinda weird, as I personally think the two tracks should have been merged to one, but that's not the worst thing in the world. I still have problems counting along with the chorus as the band throws in an extra beat constantly. It's just such an awkward rhythmic pattern. The addition of the flute in the middle though is hot, and the second, slower chorus is another triumpahnt, bombastic moment that's just indescribable and unique. The whole track just sends shivers down my spine half the time. Try doing that with a Yes album.

"Silent Flight Parliament" heralds the beginning of the end, much like "White Walls" had the same effect on "Colors". It's a great track, not one of my absolute favorites, but it's a track worthy of a finale, a finale that doesn't really come until an abrupt cut off leads into a reprise of "Goodbye To Everything". In a perfect world, I would've made the reprise as bombastic as possible rather fading away into nothing. Nevertheless, it's still a fantastic cap to a great album, an album that not only maintains a consistency through transitions and fluidity, but each big epic sounds the part of a stand-alone track as well, a feat rarely accomplished by even the most seasoned prog veterans.

VERDICT: It's glorious. It's ridiculous, sublime and then ridiculous again. It's loud, it's bombastic, it's epic and it's sobering. It makes me very happy. And yet it makes me very sad. Because this album, to me, feels like the culmination of a great career for this band, and even though I do like "Coma Elliptic", it's an entirely different beast from this, and I worry that the band put so much effort into this album that, frankly, I don't think we'll ever come across an album this complete, this thorough, this detailed. It's a unicorn, this album. Never again will something like this grace our ears. Cherish it. Embrace it. Leave it something nice in your will.

I might even go so far as to compare it to Beethoven's 9th. Once ol' Ludwig incorporated Turkish Janissary percussion and dropped a choir (A CHOIR) in the 4th movement singing "Joy To The World", I could just imagine all the other Romantic composers at the time going "NOPENOPENOPENOPE". It was the virtual equivalent to Beethoven dropping the mic and walking off stage (or going deaf and dropping dead, whichever works), and it would take roughly 60 years before Brahms came around to make the symphonic genre even remotely relevant again.

And this album seems to do the same. BTBAM have always created a sound unique and true to them, but as far as progressive tech metal goes, not even Dream Theater (my most beloved band) could top this. This is the pinnacle, and because of that, I fear that BTBAM won't ever be the same again. (please no, even if you can't recreate this album, please try. plz)

And on top of all that, it's accessible. It's catchy. It's heavy. It's quirky. It has so many elements that anyone can get into, and it's all blended into an accessible cocktail that's so well balanced and put together, they make it look SO EASY. It's staggering.

Honestly, whatever you listen to, give this album a shot. All BTBAM albums take multiple full listens to really grasp, but this particular album shouldn't take you long at all before you get it. And even if you don't like it at all, which I completely understand (BTBAM isn't for everyone, even though that's just simply blasphemous), you have to at least respect it for what it is, a colossus of epic proportions. If you don't, then I'm sorry, you have no soul.

The best album ever made. Period.

*dons flame retardant suit*

This album has been a real treat to listen to and it has remained on my iPhone ever since I brought it home a couple of months ago. I had heard of the band Between the Buried and Me before and at some point I decided to give them a listen. I don't remember why 'The Parallax II: Future Sequence' became the album I checked out on YouTube, but when I gave a quick ear to some random parts and heard the aggressive and technical playing along with the shouted vocals, I figured this was an album to keep for the right time, for when I was ready for it. A year or so later, I found my music preferences leaning towards the extreme metal persuasion, and before long the album finally joined my collection.

I was prepared for the fast and highly technical playing. I was prepared for the heaviness and the brutal vocals. I did not in any way expect the remarkable progressive side of the band. Clean vocals, beautiful melodies, acoustic guitar, synthesizers, and rapidly changing music; it was all such a treat. I almost considered that the album would be better without the emphasis on the aggressive side, but then the progressive side would probably not shine so brightly.

I can't speak for any other albums by Between the Buried and Me, not just yet anyway, but this album keeps pulling at my attention. There's so much happening in the songs here, so much creativity and all of it coming at ultra-high paces so that the music keeps changing like a person with hyperactive disorder on speed. If you're not paying attention, you'll miss something. The music is mainly divided between the two main approaches of technical metal and progressive rock but there are so many little things that get added that crop up unexpectedly and make the listening experience that much more entertaining.

The opening track, 'Goodbye to Everything' features strummed acoustic guitar and clean, melodic vocals. It sounds like a modern British prog band might have come up with this. However, 'Astral Body' begins to sound more like something from the Devin Townsend Project, especially once the screamo vocals come in at 1:53. The guitars and drums play some wonderfully complex music like Dream Theater. There's some clean guitar with a style that makes me think of System of a Down for some reason, even though I'm not so familiar with their music. 'Lay Your Ghosts to Rest' is ten minutes long and largely speedy, technical, heavy music with shouted vocals. Catch how from 5:43 to 5:45 the jaunty but brief guitar riff sounds like it's coming through a transistor radio. After over six minutes of pummeling aggression, the song slows down to a waltz with clean guitar and vocals. 'Extremophile Elite' is another long progressive/aggressive technical track which at 4:23 abruptly changes to an orchestral bit that sounds like a score from a Tim Burton movie before going back to the heavy technical music at 4:53. 'Autumn', 'Parallax', and 'The Black Box' are all very short tracks that are transitional pieces between the longer tracks.

'Telos', 'Bloom' and 'Melting City' form a wonderful suit of three segued tracks that speedily cover such an array of aggressive music but also includes a laid back part that reminds me of Pure Reason Revolution in 'Telos' and an rushed technical/progressive take on 50's twelve-bar blues based rock and roll in 'Bloom'. 'Melting City' concludes with a wonderful bass-led instrumental section that slowly builds to a climax when the vocals return. These three tracks make up such an amazing display of this bands talent. 'Silent Flight Parliament' is the longest track at over 15 minutes and continues to be packed full of head-spinning technical, progressive metal/rock. The album wraps up with 'Goodbye to Everything Reprise', a track with a very suitable slow closeout.

You'll need to be one to handle the speedy, technical and aggressive side of the album before you can appreciate and enjoy what 'The Parallax II: Future Sequence' has to offer. But if you can take that side of the band, then this album will continue to reward after several listens. Prepare yourself by listening to Dream Theater, Devin Townsend, Haken, and maybe just a little uneXpect.

The Parallax II finds Between the Buried and Me plotting a strikingly fresh course after spending their previous few releases engaging in a controlled flip of their sound; whereas Colors had been a metalcore album infused with prog sensibilities, the Future Sequence finds the group putting prog metal first and foremost, with metalcore motifs and textures being merely part of a staggeringly diverse portfolio of tools and techniques available to them. Metalcore purists may feel somewhat left behind, but if you liked the prog elements on Colors you'll be well-served here. Conversely, if in the end you found that Colors wasn't quite to your tastes due to the residual metalcore influence, you may find that The Parallax II is more your speed.

The sequel to their EP, The Parallax. This is one of the most popular albums the band has released, heck maybe more so than Colors. A concept album brimming with reality swapping and interplanetary epics. Story lovers always love a good sci-fi story. This album is gonna be quite the adventure due to its long winded length. So this may be a rather interesting review.

The album begins with a short prelude called Goodbye To Everything. Now unlike most stories this starts at the end. I will not spoil what it means but it certainly points to a more bittersweet finale with the lyrics. The song itself is an acoustic ballad with some sound effects sprinkled in. Tommy's vocals are on point as ever. This is a solid song to start the album off with.

Next song is Astral Body. Now this is where the story of the EP left off. It follows Prospect 2 breaking down mentally after realizing his planet is gone from existence so he starts to analyze and dissect himself. This band loves to create a mental conflict with the characters they make in their music and this is definitely one of the more up close examples we got. The EP had a sense of technicality, lost in trying to find this new sound to tie the Parallax stories around musically, so with this release it's a bit interesting to see them going to that complex approach to playing while also showing off the band's prog rock motif. The changes in tempo and pitch adds a nicely made layer to make this song feel super rich yet never too much. Despite being a very heavy metal band, Between The Buried and Me never had songs that feel too intense. They strike a nice balance between being fulfilling while leaving the listener wanting more.

Next up is Lay Your Ghosts To Rest. In this song Prospect 2 wakes up from his nightmare, however the planet is still gone, so he decides to go to another planet, the one he was sent the mission to go to, embarking on his journey. For the music side, it has that very articulated and refined Prog Metal I love dearly, while also showcasing a bit more flavor. It has a sort of space rock feel to it. The production definitely feels similar to an Ozric Tentacles or a Hawkwind album to me. The tiny bit of reverb does make this feel a true space adventure through the stars. I do like how it sort of has a waltz style near the end. The band does love experimentation with new styles so this fits pretty well. In all and all this is a great song, however I think it has a tiny bit of filler in some areas. I love my longer songs but this song still works if they cut a tiny bit down and make it like 7 to 9 minutes in length. I feel it's a bit overzealous in what it's trying to do musically. That aside, it's still great.

After that it's Autumn. This is an interlude. To be honest I do not care for it, it is just there. It is just some spacey sound effects and nothing more, but it does have a tiny bit of story. It's basically Prospect 2's mind at the current moment, in lost confusion, so it has some elements to it. Other than that, it exists.

The next song is Extremophile Elite. Now we get into the Prospect 1 side of the story as he reflects on his visions of Prospect 2. He wakes up though finding robots building something around him. The sound of metal clanking and building torments him so he buries his head in the dirt on this supposedly new planet. Prospect 2 soon makes his way down to the planet and finds a corpse in the dirt. This was so happened to be another nightmare but it does show the two Prospects are related in a visionary sense. This song continues the complex Prog Metal nature the band has, but I do notice a little something else. Up until the 2010s, Prog Metal was still progressive but it never truly captured the wacky and fun nature some other genres captured in the Prog scene. That was until something sparked. The most prominent contributor of this whole new wave of progressive metal was Haken. They showcased that Prog Metal can be more than just serious in terms of the music, it can be fun and silly too. Between The Buried and Me definitely had some great experimentation with the genre in the past but here you can definitely hear some Haken influence. The weird use of keyboards and a general sense of bounciness can be found all throughout this song and it gives it a more catchy flavor to it. I like this a lot, I just love a little silliness in my Prog.

Next up is Parallax, another interlude. This time I actually like this compared to Autumn. Yeah it's short but it is a bit more musical and the spoken aspect of it really changes things up a bit to give this a more interesting twist on the band's formula. It follows Prospect 1 and 2 as they realize their true goal and that is to become one again. Two seemingly reality bending characters trying to find a way to become whole again is such a cool story line to be honest.

After that is The Black Box. This time, instead of the prospects singing the song, we get another perspective, which is a being called Night Owl, a god who created everything and sees and hears all. This is the main threat of the story as they try to stop Prospect 2 from reuniting with himself and becoming one again. This is a shorter song but we get less of a heavy metal sentimentality through it and more of a ballad-like feel, but obviously in a villainous approach as it builds up into an epic crescendo. I do wish this was longer since the build up almost felt unearned quite frankly, but it does leave a good introduction to the main villain of this album.

Coming off of it we have Telos. It shows Prospect 2 using his abilities to contact Prospect 1 in an attempt to try and get them on his plan to start things anew. Prospect 1 seems interested in this plan. Prospect 2 also finds a letter from his dead wife who couldn't bear being alone, so she killed herself but to send a message to Prospect 2 on how bad the mission has become. With these feelings, Prospect 2's end goal is to now destroy earth, which fears Prospect 1, who now has an end goal to become a normal person again and not go through his other's plans for destruction of humanity. Now this is a good song, a really good song. It is super virtuous and is filled to the brim with excellent changes in sound and style that it truly creates an epic scaling song. Musically this song is as good as ever, but the story could use a little work. Prospect 2's goals feel very cookie cutter like. The whole destroying humanity due to a lost thing has been a sort of basic and bland trope even in the year of 2012. It doesn't feel completely absolute, but Prospect 1 definitely is a lot more interesting, I just wish they utilized him a lot more in the story. Also they kinda ditched Night Owl in the plot in this song which felt weird. I kinda wanted a big epic battle between a godlike being and an actual god to take place, but I guess that didn't happen for this song. Some weird choices. The song is good, but the story feels weird now.

Next up is Bloom. Prospect 1 now floats in a body of water and soon gets dragged down by a bunch of jellyfish who hypnotizes and experiments on him. After they found out his purpose they let him go where he drifts onto the faithful island that showed up in the first song of The Parallax EP, showing a flashback. You can definitely hear the weird Prog vibes in this song. It's super wobbly and funky sounding but still distinctly from the same cloth as many other songs this band has made. It is just a wacky song and I love that a lot. Just a fun song all around, despite the dark story.

Melting City is up next. Another perspective is introduced and that is a government investigator named Black Mask. He is sent to steal the letter Prospect 2 read in Telos. Black Mask decides to keep it which soon eats at him so he goes back to where he stole it, only finding ash. He leaves the note behind after reading it and runs off for Prospect 2 to find. This and Bloom are kinda in the same form, this being longer though. It is a flashback song that shows a chain of events that'll lead to the epic of The Parallax. This also has the same vibe as Bloom too, a more wacky sounding song, though this doesn't fit as well since the story and subject matter is much grimer. I do love this song, but it does feel a tad out of place and unneeded in the long run. It is a good addition and a little more story elements doesn't hurt, but it does feel filler for the sake of filler.

Next up is Silent Flight Parliament. Now this is a song worth talking about, another big epic from the band. It has such a good melody throughout it with a good amount of technical skill to really make this song feel epic in nature. It has a consistent yet ever changing vibe and style in the music that really sets a nice run for this album. Of course an epic wouldn't be complete without a solid ending. The repeating lines of 'Jet propulsion disengaged, dancing towards our future, a future of nothing, a future towards nothing' is such an awesome finale line that just makes this experience feel all the more worth it. The story of this song is Prospect 2 realizing that Night Owl and Prospect 1 oppose his plans, so he decides to put his plan to action. He kidnaps Prospect 1 and forces him to witness his plan of moving the earth into the sun. Now this is a good plot, but here is the weird part, and that is Prospect 1 accepting this fate. I am saying he had an advantage against his other self, but come on, they should've fought. Like the ending would be so much better if they had one last battle, the ideals of moving forward and destruction, life and death battling one last time. It's kind of a cop out ending to be honest, but it doesn't sour the song too much, but it does feel a little wrong. That aside it's still a magnificent piece for this album.

Lastly is the reprisal of Goodbye To Everything. So now the two Prospects accept their fates and earth and then are destroyed by the sun. This whole thing wraps the adventure up, but it does lead some questions like how did Prospect 2 find a way to kidnap Prospect 1 if they are in separate realities, and also why did Night Owl not try to stop them as he wanted to before in The Black Box. The story feels janky at times, but still a nice concept album for this band's career.

I know I am in the minority here but I do not find this album to be their best work, but that does not stop it from being a very enjoyable musical venture. It is certainly a recommendation for people who want a space bound story while also wanting some awesome heavy music, just note the story is a little all over the place.