BtBaM's The Great Misdirect

I went through a period of simply liking it at the beginning, then I thought it was merely ok, especially compared to Colors. I've been listening to it at least once a week now and can totally appreciate the fact that BTBAM have created an almost entirely melodic album. I think there are a few weak-ish spots and it's not as emotionally engaging as they have been in the past, but I can still love it. I particularly enjoy Obfuscation and Disease, Injury, Madness, though I think I'm  playing the devil's advocate by not adoring Swim To the Moon (I have this thing when people think 'epics' are the best, so I think I'm generally skeptical of them).

Edited by topofsm - February 20 2010 at 00:16

Yeah, the harsh vocals are the weak spot. But if you ever see them live, or watch some of their studio footage, you'll see he is outting everything he has into those screams, which kind of makes up for it in my mind. He definitely isn't phoning it in, even if it may sound like it.

Another thing I forgot to mention about this album, and this goes for Colors too, is how well it's recorded.  I love when you can hear every instrument, especially the bass, because their bass player is phenomenal. I also love how Richardson has his drums sounding.

Colors has quite a few production flaws actually (referring to the mix mainly). Some subjective, others not so much.
Slightly too strong in the low mids (which has the effect of clouding the upper frequencies).
Lack of automation where they should have been (for eg. 12:10 into White Walls, the drums overpower the guitar solo, when all it would have took to have sorted that out with some volume automation on the drums and guitars).

More from a subjective standpoint I find the overheads to be a little muffled and not defined enough. The snare drum sounds great though.
The rest of the mix ain't bad really though. I really love the guitar tones BTBAM have had on the last 3 albums, and the bass guitar has blended very well into the guitars which is not easy to do


Also, about the vocals, I'm not hearing this supposed "hardcore" vocal at all I can think of plenty of death metal bands that have higher pitch growls than BTBAM (Arch Enemy, Death as just two examples) and plenty of bands that have growls at around the same pitch as Tommy's vocals (Miseration, old In Flames).
It pays to actually LISTEN and to A/B tracks from other bands against BTBAM's vocals, rather than just spewing the preconceived notion that because of their aesthetic they must have "hardcore" vocals, you'd actually hear they are death growls just the same as in death metal.
Yes, sometimes he does the higher pitched stuff, but for the most part on the last 2 albums he's been doing death growls.
When you get rid of preconceived notions, they stop coloring what you hear and you can be properly perceptive of what you hear.

As an example, listen to say, the band Darkest Hour and A/B the vocals with stuff off Colors, and you will hear that the Colors vocals are NOTHING like metalcore screams.
Then proceed to compare the vocals to something like old In Flames or Miseration and hear how similar it can sound at points


Edited by Petrovsk Mizinski - February 20 2010 at 22:21

^Hell yeah man.
If anything, there aren't many vocalists who are as passionate about what they do as Tommy. Not a lot of guys can do the clean singing AND death growl thing with ease either. He's in a rare field there

If it wasnt for maudlin of the Well, I would have voted for TGM as my album of the year. Fossil Genera and Disease, Injury, Madness are quickly become two of my favourite songs, though I have to admit that Swim to the Moon doesnt quite beat out White Walls as the epic of the band. And I love Tommy's vocals, he's very expressive whichever style he's singing in.

^Agreed. I read on an Amazon review that stated BtBaM were moving into Opeth territory. I have to agree. 

I have to disagree with the Opeth statement. TGM sounds nothing like Opeth in my opinion.

Whereas Opeth is more dark and melancholic, BtBaM has more extended soloing and more energetic sections than the dark moods of Opeth. I would say on TGM, BtBaM sound like Dream Theater with added death metal and metalcore influences.

-Jeff

I didn't mean they were sounding like Opeth (this is how I'm interpreting that reviewer's comment), just that they are reaching that same creative level. I agree, I hear a lot of DT in them, but they are doing a lot more original things than DT ever did (recently, anyways). When it comes to prog metal, I put Opeth way above pretty much any band on the scene right now, and I think BtBaM is getting to that point.