Between the Buried and Me - The Blue Nowhere (2025)^{Release ID: 62546}

If you thought Colors II was the most anticipated BTBAM album, that would then be surpassed by this one, The Blue Nowhere! The album came out last September after a long 4-year interval. It is partly due to their separation from longtime rhythm guitarist Dustie Waring. After finding out about some sexual abuse allegations towards him in 2023, the band began touring without him. The allegations were proven false, and Waring suspected that it was all part of an extortion plot against him, as well as his firing being for unworthy reasons. With that, he threatened to sue the band. Long story short, the matter dropped and the band continued with a touring replacement in Tristan Auman. Waring was pretty much almost as salty as Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds was after his departure from that band (before Hinds' tragic death, RIP). For this album, The Blue Nowhere, founding lead guitarist Paul Waggoner performed all the guitarwork by himself. It takes a real music examiner to tell the difference between Waggoner's rhythm guitar playing and that of Waring. Either way, although there can be some slight predictability that made me burned out of BTBAM in the first place years ago, we have another terrific display of the band's deathly progressive metal/rock that they've mastered since Colors.

Keeping up their conceptual tendencies that they had since Colors, the album is set in the eponymously titled hotel The Blue Nowhere. It dives into existential quandaries in a more abstract form of storytelling, as abstract as that Star Wars Visions short "BLACK". Those lyrics are, as usual, sung and growled by vocalist/keyboardist Tommy Rogers, and they take on thoughts that range from fleeting to chaotic. They're not about the story, but rather about the feeling. As you listen, you can imagine yourself in your own world away from reality, one that only you and no one else would know.

"Things We Tell Ourselves in the Dark" opens the album as both the first track and single. It's one of the most enjoyable tracks in years. It kickstarts the album right away without an intro, and doesn't follow the heaviness of the two Colors albums, but instead the wackiness of the albums in between. The song has a modern take on 80s prog, blending those bouncy hooks with doses of technical chaos. And the vocal interplay really heats it up. Then the band goes more industrial in "God Terror". The riffs, vocals, and percussion leans into something Pitchshifter would do. "Absent Thereafter" is the first of three 11-minute epics, and boy does it hit hard! It sounds so heavy while adding in some funk and other genres. It's basically almost this album's equivalent to "Ants of the Sky" and "Disease, Injury, Madness"!

"Pause" is an aptly titled pause from the action with just synthy ambience and soft yet mysterious singing from Rogers. "Door #3" has darker groove and more mental-sounding vocals by Tommy. All this makes the sound like a demented carnival. Also while I enjoy his occasional falsetto, it can be a little annoying when appearing out of nowhere. I guess that's one reason why I can't add that half-star needed for the album's perfect score. "Mirador Uncoil" is one more short interlude. I don't have much to say about that one. The second 11-minute epic "Psychomanteum" has fun energy. When Tommy Rogers bellows the song title "PSYCHOMANTEUM" at the two-minute mark, that really hit me hard, along with the h*lla heavy riffing less than a minute later. A minute after that, the extremeness is lowered down for some soft beauty. That goes on for a couple minutes, rising up to a brief wacky moment of drums, piano, and vocals. Some of that heavy riffing hits less than a minute later, heavier than the earlier riffing. Nearly a couple minutes after that, the soft beauty comes back in the form of Opeth-like ambience and guitar fiddling by Paul Waggoner, followed by more of that beautiful mood.

"Slow Paranoia" is the last 11-minute epic. As much as I enjoy this one though, I start to realize how self-copied it is. It's still wonderful, yet some sections sound like they've been done to death. That track can appear in any of the band's past albums, and no one would bat an eye or ear. With that, while this album won't reach a perfect 5-star rating from me, the 4.5-star rating is still intact. This is especially the case for these final two tracks that should've just been indexed as a two-part 14-minute suite, probably greater than the epics from the previous few albums (Coma Ecliptic, Automata, Colors II), starting with the title track. It's one of the catchiest and most radio-friendly songs by the band, like a classic-sounding ballad that I actually love. Other progressive metal artists that would do that are Devin Townsend and Haken. "Beautifully Human" ends it all by reflecting on everything the band has had here, all in the guitars, keys, vocals (both clean and harsh). Thus concludes another journey on a high note!

The Blue Nowhere can very well attract newcomers to the world of BTBAM. It can also impress longtime fans, though a little more originality would've been ideal to make this album 100% percent and get me back onboard that train. Excellent but too familiar, like having fast-food two or 3 times per week (eat healthy, kids and adults!). Nonetheless, BTBAM have made their excellent comeback, even after cutting ties with one of their longtime members. I don't know what will come next for them, but I can't wait!

Favorites: "Things We Tell Ourselves in the Dark", "Absent Thereafter", "Psychomanteum", "The Blue Nowhere", "Beautifully Human"

I never want to hear another complaint about my harsh criticism of modern Dream Theater ever again!

BTBAM (Between the Buried and Me) showed us three years ago that they may have been running out of collective ideas with Colors II. I can thank the first Colors record for being one of the key contributors for allowing me to enjoy new extreme metal genres like death metal and metalcore. Colors II felt like a return to that style following a couple of releases where the band decided to take a more accessible route on The Great Misdirect. Colors II while a good album as well as a hybrid of styles, it just did not resonate with me that much. So much of my discourse surrounding The Blue Nowhere came from figuring out how the formula would adapt.

The Blue Nowhere is not your typical BTBAM record. This album is much more avant-garde and less metalcore than ever before. I was taken aback by how much intentional dissonance was given to the record, but the record flew by despite its over seventy-minute runtime. The bands ability to write theses long, complex song structures, while still making them feel connected is just as good as it was during the late 2000s. "Absent Thereafter" and "Slow Paranoia" immediately stand out among the rest. The first promotional single and leadoff track, "Things We Tell Ourselves in the Dark" has a remarkable sense of pacing as to not overwhelm the listener with too much of the avant-garde obtuseness right out of the gate. Then "God Terror" hits you like a ton of bricks and reminds you that BTBAM used to play a rare progressive metalcore. The pacing of The Blue Nowhere with interludes like "Pause" and "Mirador Uncoil" serve their purpose so well, and the final run of four tracks is incredible. Two eleven minutes epics with "Psychomanteum" and "Slow Paranoia", which are both heavy, avant-garde and surprisingly concise, before dropping everything down for "The Blue Nowhere" and "Beautifully Human" to a cool, calm and reflective pace as the album circles back on itself. BTBAM sense of pacing is as good, if not better, than it has been since The Great Misdirect.

This is what progressive music should be; these acts should not be sitting idly by and rereleasing the same album ad nauseum for a quarter of a century because "that's what got us popular in the first place". Meanwhile, bands like Sleep Token, who are not progressive, are spinning circles around the so called "giants" of the genre. BTBAM are not going to settle making cookie cutter progressive metal and The Blue Nowhere proves that. This is BTBAM for a new era. Even if this turns out to be a one off project and they return to sounds closer to The Great Misdirect after this, at least they will have this one late era gem.

Best Songs: Things We Tell Ourselves in the Dark, Absent Thereafter, Slow Paranoia, Beautifully Human, Door #3