Album Review: Between The Buried And Me - Best Of

Since forming in 2000, BTBAM have released five albums of unrelenting, savage metal blended with prog-rock to become one of the biggest underground metal bands. Despite this, they never quite got the recognition they deserved. Now with 250,000 album sales under their belts, the band are releasing their last album with Victory Records: a 3 disc greatest hits album. 'Best Of' features songs from throughout their 11 year career, as well as five bonus tracks that have never before been released on CD, and a bonus DVD.

Disc one sees such classics as 'Ad a Dglgmut' – a seven and a half minute assault on the ears, with a brief respite from some wonderful clean vocals from Tommy Rogers. In contrast, the hauntingly beautiful 'Shevanel Take 2' from the bands second album shows the slightly more tender side of BTBAM, without losing any of their story-telling abilities. 'Alaska', also features, as does 'Prequal To The Sequal' and 'White Walls' from their 2007 album 'Colours', making this first disc a bit of a trip down memory lane. It shows how much the band have evolved over the years, and is a great selection of their best work.

Disc two consists of seven mostly live tracks, including 'Mordecai' and 'Backwards Marathon.' 'Mirrors' isn't one of these live tracks, and originally features on their last album, provides a refreshing, slower-paced song on the disc, and also contains some very fancy basslines. But even from their live songs, you can hear the raw passion and talent oozing from the five-piece, and the complicated vocal melodies are not lost like they often are with some live acts. Live albums aren't everyone's cup of tea, but BTBAM have done the right thing by not limiting themselves to a purely live release. Disc 3 is the bonus DVD, comprising of music videos.

'Best Of' is overall, a pretty good album, albeit a bit samey after a while. It features all their best tracks, documenting just how they have developed over the years. But because of their unusual style of metal, and previous album sales, I can't help but think that only die-hard fans will be buying this.

3.5/5

'Best Of' by Between The Buried and Me is available now on Victory Records.

Between The Buried and Me on MySpace.

Blaise Ruston