After putting it off for a long time I decided to not be a cheapskate, and rather than resort to downloading I actually purchased Between the Buried and Me's latest album, The Great Misdirect. They are one of those bands who impress me enough with the skill and emotion they play their music to allow them into the circle of bands I listen to that I enjoy enough to pay ridiculous amounts for their imported albums rather than download them. And with this album they prove themselves even more.I only own a couple of their other albums, The Silent Circus and Alaska, though both outline different eras of BTBAM's music. Though The Great Misdirect doesn't have the aggression and epic-ballad-overtones of The Silent Circus, nor the tongue-in-cheek attitude of Alaska, it signifies an alternative path in their always unpredictable style of progressive metal. With only six tracks, clocking in at nearly an immense hour long, you're in for some reasonably long songs. Each is like a story, a journey, containing passages where they leap from genre to genre. Each song has it's own different mood and distinguishable features thrown in amongst the metal chaos.
Another identifiable aspect is that the band have dropped most, if not all, hardcore ties in their music. Unlike earlier material you will not listen to this album and think "metalcore". This album is straight-up progressive metal, an ever-relentless onslaught on the senses. At times the music seems equally balanced between metal, jazz and soft-rock, with the slightest hint of southern/country. This album's spastic tendencies mean you have to really be in the mood for the spontaneous; don't expect an easy, simple listen.
Like last week, my most listened to artist has already been mentioned once, and so 