Band:	Between The Buried And Me
Album:	Coma Ecliptic
Style:	Progressive metalcore
Release date:	July 07, 2015
Guest review by:	musclassia

01. Node
02. The Coma Machine
03. Dim Ignition
04. Famine Wolf
05. King Redeem / Queen Serene
06. Turn On The Darkness
07. The Ectopic Stroll
08. Rapid Calm
09. Memory Palace
10. Option Oblivion
11. Life In Velvet

The promising work of Between The Buried And Me's early work eventually led to astonishing achievement that was 2007's colossal Colors, a staggering concoction of ferocious metalcore and progressive metal with a whole load of weird thrown in.

Since that album, 'BTBAM' have slowly built upon this sound with an incredibly hot streak including The Great Misdirect and the two Parallax releases, undergoing a gradual shift in sound as albums became slightly less extreme and more 'classically' prog. With Coma Ecliptic, the band has taken a large stride to reach the natural conclusion of this movement, with extreme elements much less prominent, keyboards/electronics more central to the sound and clean vocals dominating. The question is whether the band is still operating at the same quality level as they were on their heavier efforts, and the answer is mostly yes.

Everything one might expect from a recent Between The Buried And Me album is here and on display, or almost at least. The pulverizing heavy riffs from the past few albums still make a few appearances, but for the most part, have disappeared by this point. And the once-central screamed vocals are now a more minor feature of the vocal performance. However, the heavier edge still gets its times to shine and acts as a nice contrast to the dominant melodic prog sound of the album; something of an inverse on past albums.

Along with a shift in extremity, there has also been a change in pace. The music on this album is on average slightly slower and less frenetic than their past work, and the chaotic nature of shifting around within songs is also somewhat reduced. As such, Coma Ecliptic is their most accessible album to date. And yet, the wild, adventurous and playful nature of the band is still intact - songs can still go through many different phases from start to finish; just perhaps fewer than previously attempted.

The distinct 'BTBAM' quirkiness seen previously on "Fossil Genera ?", "Astral Body" among others, is present early on once the typical soft, short opening track leads into "The Coma Machine", and later on the bouncy "Ectopic Stroll". On top of that, adventurous songs such as "King Redeem / Queen Serene", a soft pleasant opening leading into the most extreme sequence on the record, "Turn On The Darkness", a track that feels at different times brooding, statesman-like, and towards the end quite joyous amidst several intense segments, and the patient "Rapid Calm" all show off the many sides of this band's sound in terms of high technical skill across the board and imaginative composition.

And yet I'm not quite as on board with this album as past releases. This is not due to any specific issue - there may be the odd awkward shift between moments in songs or segment that doesn't quite work (the 'na na na' part in "Memory Palace" is still to win me over), but these are few and far between and don't hamper the listening experience. It's more a case of following up 4 releases, which are almost uniformly packed with consistently exhilarating, entertaining and memorable songs, the material on offer now, whilst enjoyable throughout, doesn't all quite demand attention in the same way, and few of the songs compete with the band's finest, the ever-changing yet ever-engaging monsters such as "Sun Of Nothing" or "Obfuscation".

Still, the music on display here only acts to bolster an already hugely impressive catalogue. And whilst not quite equal to past closers, the trio of "Memory Palace" - "Option Oblivion" - "Life In Velvet" acts as an excellent climax, the album's strongest and most consistently memorable track followed by two shorter ones with some fine vocal and instrumental lines; the latter recalling "The Coma Machine" to great effect.

Ultimately, whilst arguably not quite matching up to the few albums preceding it, Coma Ecliptic acts as another fine instalment in a hugely impressive recent discography, one that continues to explore the more progressive tendencies and influences of the band whilst still staying recognizably Between The Buried And Me.