I’m busting onto the scene like a bat out of hell, thanks Meatloaf. Who am I you ask? Well the Wu-Tang Clan rapped about me, Hour of the Wolf wailed about me, Hitchcock scribbled about me, and most of northern Wisconsin fears me; I’m Psycho Killa. Spelled with an “a” instead of “er,” to stay MTV generation compatible. ... So what if I just called myself by my pen name? I’m just trying to burn up some space here because I’ve never written anything besides someone’s order down at Scooby’s. I worked there as fry boy for 3 years and was elevated to cashier before I was offered this gig for a “brand new form of interneting” according to the fellas of Belly Full of Hell. I guess they invented blogs or something and…wait you wanted to know about the album right? OK, OK, here you go.
I was informed of this album by my friend Hallur Hallsson, yes he’s Icelandic, with these words:
“It’s… it rips. You just have to listen to it.”
So I took him up on that one. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every other sonic adventure I’ve heard from these fellas, seemed a no-brainer. As I read into the album a little bit I realized it was receiving a lot of hype. I mean the album has a “trailer” for fuck’s sake. They also match “the brilliance of Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Tool, and Mastodon,” according to Victory Records website. Bah to you, Victory Records! I’m not really a fan of people comparing themselves to Pink Floyd, they always fall well short. Although nothing as ground breaking as Pink Floyd, the atmospheres present at times in Colors is reminiscent at times of the Floyd. I think Rick Wright, wind instrumentalist turned keyboardist, would be pleased with the comparison. Nonetheless this album rips and I think Between the Buried and Me have definitely catalyst themselves to the forefront of the progressive metal genre.
Colors definitely comes at you from many different angles. “Foam Born (A) The Backtrack” starts out lighter with some sultry piano and accompanying singing that gives way to some wondrously, synth-tastic melodies. Shagrath style vocals start the song morphing into “(B) The Decade of Statues,” a definitely heavier track with a chorus that seems to be played upon some foreign mountain top overlooking the sea as a blood moon rises. Yea, I went there bitches. BTBAM (always sounds like “Bat ‘um” in my head) provides yet another stellar song set that is a journey within each and have taken a step further with this album as it’s meant to flow from track to track. “Informal Gluttony” takes on the same foreign feel as the track gets ready to pummel you about a minute into it. As “Informal Gluttony” fades into didgeridoo and percussion goodness the first epic of the album bursts into your ears. “Sun of Nothing” clocks in at ten minutes fifty-eight seconds and provides you with a short Man Man style break. This track like the other epics and the album as a whole rips through you, sheds up the sound waves, and sails between many styles of music. Oh, I also forgot to tell you there is a western saloon style banjo breakdown in so be prepared for anything.
Just remember the Colors journey is meant to be a complete one, at least for your first time around. So time to burst your virginity with this album and bleed for metal!
Here you can check out BTBAM playing "Informal Gluttony" live. Make sure to listen for the horrible off-beat clapping by the crowd in the beginning.
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