Between the Buried and Me @Amplifier (24/3/10)

Sun 28th Mar, 2010 in Gig Reviews

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Between the Buried and Me. They’ve crammed a lot of words into their band name and they cram a lot into their music. With such complex, intricate and frankly, illogical songs – they rarely follow any determinable pattern – it was going to be interesting to see how well they could translate them into a live performance in their examination at the Amplifier on Wednesday. They passed with flying colours, the only marks that could’ve been deducted coming from the shortness of their set.

Opening the night were youngsters Make Them Suffer but they did no such thing. In fact, everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. Not even 8:30 and already the Amplifier was a-rockin’. The young crowd showed none of the trepidation often afforded to support acts as the floor quickly filled. Between the Buried and Me clearly had a lot of fans lurking about Perth and Make Them Suffer were making short work of converting them. They played an addictive mix of black and death metal, with variation between and guttural growls and higher screams, between lower triplet treated riffs and tremolo driven licks. There wasn’t too much tampering done to this refreshingly conventional mix, but it was tempered with moreish breakdowns which demanded attention, pulsing like a defibrillator, forcing life into the body.

Second act were yet another bunch of youngsters Arturo Chaos, though some of them may not get into too many bars without being ID’d they all exuded maturity on stage. With a sound more akin to the headliners they negotiated a great deal of courses and corridors on their way to completing a song. Meandering guitar lines that make use of every inch of the guitar neck stand at the forefront of the song while James Parrish punches you in the face with his vocals. Backed by propelling drumbeats their songs make you feel like you’re caught in a rip, being thrown in every direction and not knowing when you’ll be able to come up for air. Although being disappointed by the absence of stage divers they must’ve been pleased by the movement in the packed audience, which was matched on stage with appendages and instruments flying everywhere.

The turbulent waters that already filled the moshpit looked calm once Between the Buried and Me took the stage and a veritable whirlpool was created. Anyone too close to the epicentre was sucked into the vortex as they cracked straight into Obfuscation from their latest album The Great Misdirect. Those safe on dry land at the back of the room witnessed not only this phenomenon but also the inexplicable way BTBAM managed to recreate their music live.

It is impossible to do justice to the band’s style with any mutant definition that can be bastardised from the million offshoots of metal hybrids. If you could imagine Pink Floyd came back and made babies with one member from each metal hybrid – death metal, progressive metal, math metal, metal core, to name a few – you may have a family that is getting close to Between the Buried and Me.

One minute it’s (nearly) your average metal show, thudding drums and galloping riffs, then that riff will morph into a dual guitar symphony near the narrower frets before working into a frenzied five-pronged all out aural attack of guitars and bass and drums and screams. But just as the choppiness of the tourbillion before the stage conspires to pull a few under, Tommy Giles Rogers returns to his keyboard and like Moses, commands the seas to his will, parting them with a 70s style prog trip. He introduces Selkies: The Endless Obsession and guitarist Paul Waggoner proves the humble grandiose only a guitar solo can provide still has a place in even the most abstract adaptations of metal while as a whole Between the Buried and Me prove there are still avenues of music not yet explored, pioneering a voyage to a new place in metal, making you think again.

Concentrating too much on their craft to bother too much with onstage niceties, Rogers keeps the banter to a minimum as BTBAM focus on creating an elaborate musical amalgamate on stage. Perhaps such sharp focus is sapping because unfortunately it all seemed to be over before it began. They only played for just over an hour and with song lengths averaging near the ten minute mark, and with a bit of a drum solo thrown in, it all only amounts to six or seven songs. More next time please.

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