White walls. Thats all you really need to say.

White walls White WALLS WHITE WAAALLS!!!

This is one of the best progressive metal albums ever; a second generation 'Images and Words'. 'Colors' is definately a front-to-back album: every riff, every drum fill - all of it is spot-on. BTBAM blends tasteful melodies with nasty metal riffs; simple elements with extremely complex parts (without being over-the-top). 'Informal Gluttony' is a personal favorite, a track that is as close to straight-forward as BTBAM gets but still packed full of loops and twists and turns.

Ants of the Sky is my favorite!

FUcking perfect!

Ants of the Sky is my favorite!

FUcking perfect!

I'M FLOATING TOWARDS THE SUN!

They say I'm a space man... ^_^

Between the Buried and Me's best album, they have yet to top this masterpiece, with the two releases since. Second favourite album of all time. Got to love how everything on this album flows together there is even managed to put in a hoe down.

sleep on, fly on... in your mind you can fly

I could probably write an entire book on this album and why I think it's so bloody good. Best. Album. Ever.

All the melodic portions of the songs are brilliant and original.

However, every time they attempt "brutality" to appease their simple-minded fan base, their riffs become mindless and the low growls destroy the atmosphere and sound amateur.

Sounds similar to adding low-quality metalcore to something along the lines of Opeth or Leprous.

Written by LeKiwi on 03.12.2012 at 13:48

However, every time they attempt "brutality" to appease their simple-minded fan base, their riffs become mindless and the low growls destroy the atmosphere and sound amateur.

So "brutal" music is just for simple-minded listeners, whatever that means? That's very elitist from your part.

Written by Unhealer on 03.12.2012 at 16:33

Written by LeKiwi on 03.12.2012 at 13:48

However, every time they attempt "brutality" to appease their simple-minded fan base, their riffs become mindless and the low growls destroy the atmosphere and sound amateur.

So "brutal" music is just for simple-minded listeners, whatever that means? That's very elitist from your part.

Not to mention untrue.

Written by Guest on 03.12.2012 at 17:15

Written by Unhealer on 03.12.2012 at 16:33

Written by LeKiwi on 03.12.2012 at 13:48

However, every time they attempt "brutality" to appease their simple-minded fan base, their riffs become mindless and the low growls destroy the atmosphere and sound amateur.

So "brutal" music is just for simple-minded listeners, whatever that means? That's very elitist from your part.

Not to mention untrue.

Probably worth mentioning that my statement was interpreted incorrectly. Notice I put brutality in inverted commas, indicating that their attempt was flawed. Their "brutality" aspect is primitive and is out of context. Properly executed brutality can be integrated such that the music flows and does not, in this case, lose its complexity and atmosphere.

I'm simply stating that I feel they slide in some heavier parts (which lack thought imo) in order to for those that can only appreciate "brutal" music to enjoy their songs.

Written by LeKiwi on 04.12.2012 at 03:19

Probably worth mentioning that my statement was interpreted incorrectly. Notice I put brutality in inverted commas, indicating that their attempt was flawed. Their "brutality" aspect is primitive and is out of context. Properly executed brutality can be integrated such that the music flows and does not, in this case, lose it's complexity and atmosphere.

I'm simply stating that I feel they slide in some heavier parts (which lack thought imo) in order to for those that can only appreciate "brutal" music to enjoy their songs.

Seems you misinterpeted my statement as well, since that is entirely untrue. It's quite the opposite effect that BTBAM put on here. They focus all their technique on the "brutal" aspects, I've always interpeted the softer parts (like the poppish sound in Sun of Nothing and the soft vocalization in Informal Gluttony) to be preformed as a show of skill and versitality that the band has. Regardless, BTBAM perform to apex ability on this album, soft or brutal.

Written by Guest on 04.12.2012 at 03:26

Written by LeKiwi on 04.12.2012 at 03:19

Probably worth mentioning that my statement was interpreted incorrectly. Notice I put brutality in inverted commas, indicating that their attempt was flawed. Their "brutality" aspect is primitive and is out of context. Properly executed brutality can be integrated such that the music flows and does not, in this case, lose it's complexity and atmosphere.

I'm simply stating that I feel they slide in some heavier parts (which lack thought imo) in order to for those that can only appreciate "brutal" music to enjoy their songs.

Seems you misinterpeted my statement as well, since that is entirely untrue. It's quite the opposite effect that BTBAM put on here. They focus all their technique on the "brutal" aspects, I've always interpeted the softer parts (like the poppish sound in Sun of Nothing and the soft vocalization in Informal Gluttony) to be preformed as a show of skill and versitality that the band has. Regardless, BTBAM perform to apex ability on this album, soft or brutal.

To some extent I agree that some songs are based are the heavy sounds, but not all the heavy sections are detrimental to the quality. The ones which incorporate melody or groove into the riffing reflect music effort. The remaining distorted parts (e.g. the start of (B) The Decade of Statues) are ultimately generic and I view them as filler. Listen to Ants of the Sky, there are a myriad of considerably well thought out heavy riffs, barring a few such as the one from the 5 minute mark to 5:23.

Written by LeKiwi on 04.12.2012 at 03:19

Probably worth mentioning that my statement was interpreted incorrectly. Notice I put brutality in inverted commas, indicating that their attempt was flawed. Their "brutality" aspect is primitive and is out of context. Properly executed brutality can be integrated such that the music flows and does not, in this case, lose it's complexity and atmosphere.

Oh ok, got it. I don't feel those sections as such over here though, I'm all good with the band going for some simple sections at times so they don't overload the songs with melodic/harmonic complexity, which bothers me sometimes. Also, they have lots of sections during the songs, so a few seconds of generic hardcore riffing don't bother me at all.
Anyway, I remember that in my first listens I though something like that, that the songs were just chaos with interesting parts placed in between Now it's among the few records I consider perfect.

Written by Unhealer on 04.12.2012 at 04:58

Written by LeKiwi on 04.12.2012 at 03:19

Probably worth mentioning that my statement was interpreted incorrectly. Notice I put brutality in inverted commas, indicating that their attempt was flawed. Their "brutality" aspect is primitive and is out of context. Properly executed brutality can be integrated such that the music flows and does not, in this case, lose it's complexity and atmosphere.

Oh ok, got it. I don't feel those sections as such over here though, I'm all good with the band going for some simple sections at times so they don't overload the songs with melodic/harmonic complexity, which bothers me sometimes. Also, they have lots of sections during the songs, so a few seconds of generic hardcore riffing don't bother me at all.
Anyway, I remember that in my first listens I though something like that, that the songs were just chaos with interesting parts placed in between Now it's among the few records I consider perfect.

Hopefully a few more spins and I might be able to appreciate the songs as wholes rather than segments Similarly when I started to listen to metal, I despised anything but clean singing. Then tolerance led to enjoyment of growls...strange how perceptions evolve

In any case, I simply wish that all the heavy parts would be melodic and groovy, not necessarily complex. However, considering my musical taste, this probably isn't applicable to everyone....

It took me a VERY long time to warm up to BTBAM, since I was so stubborn towards any music with any trace of metalcore period, but once I bought this album, that's all been changed for the better, this band goes above and beyond all the typical metalcore artists. Awesome album, Ants in the Sky is probably my favorite, if not White Walls.

Found a more colorful version of Colors, thought it looked pretty cool.

Best Metalcore album ever, the level on this is epic.

Where's the 11/10 button?

This albums was great. But, now I think that the parallax ii: future sequence is a better album compared to this album...

I haven't listened to this album album in quite a while so I almost forgot how great it is. "Colors" introduced me to Between the Buried and Me and turned me into the ardent admirer of their music.
The thing is, before listening to this record for the first time, I couldn't have guessed that there is some kind of metalcore I can come to enjoy.

This record will always haunt them . It is their best effort to date and i find it very difficult for them to top that. Masterpiece of prog/death .

Just extraordinary. They certainly have released consistently excellent music since and certainly aren't weighed down by this effort, but it's always good to have a classic in your back catalogue, and any album containing Sun Of Nothing, Ants Of The Sky, Prequel To The Sequel AND WHITE fucking WALLS will fall into the 'classic' folder. What a band

I think I'm giving up on this one. I first gave it a go at work a few days ago and thought my ass was gonna get completely destroyed after how good the first couple minutes were, but it was all downhill from there. Every time I try listening to it I last less and less and now I can only get about 10 minutes in before turning it off.

Edit: Gave it the FINAL attempt today, same thing except I also skipped ahead to White Walls cause for whatever reason that song makes everyone's panties wet. There's a good minute or two in that song but, I'm for sure giving up on the album. It's the kind of thing that has a few good ideas going on but the way it's all linked together is pretty crude. And there are some parts that are not good ideas to begin with.

I love this album and band, but let's be honest. All those random moments, like the hoedown, accordion thing, and the 70's prog stuff in general, were pretty random on a mathcore album. Not that these things necessarily can't exist together, but on this and every BtBaM album those things are shoved together awkwardly in a way that is more novel than accomplished. Between the Buried and Me are a fun as hell band, but they are a gimmick based on the random juxtaposition of their influences, and this album, while my favorite of theirs, is the ultimate expression of this.

This album is okay, I find it starts to get a little boring/meanders but before it gets too boring, it picks itself back up. Another album that's too long for its own good.

The White Walls breakdown is pretty sweet for a band that doesn't do breakdowns, the album should have ended right after that (and cut out 20 minutes before that too).

Am i the only one who ranked this album 2nd to Parallax 2?? that is my absolute fave, with Colors 2nd and Coma Ecliptic 3rd.

Almost a decade listening to this album. To be quite honest I cant even.
This album only lacks some more cohesion in transitions/ideas and direction of the songs and album in general.
What matters most is that this is a pinnacle, it has some of the best passages in music in general. I'm willing to look past the flaws and give it a most perfect score (10+/10), trully deserved.