BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME get some family time.
PRIVATE VENUE, WINSTON-SALEM, NC
North Carolina’s progressive champions have a prodigal party
WITH THEIR 20TH anniversary tour remaining on indefinite hiatus, Between The Buried And Me have decided to pay a visit to the parents of drummer Blake Anderson, set up their gear in the front room and perform both Automata albums from 2018 in full via their official Twitch channel. With one camera fixed on Blake in his booth and a second moving freely between the other four members, it’s a simple yet effective setup that captures a band at total ease with both their surroundings and material. It also offers an unrivalled opportunity to see individual moments of brilliance, like Paul Waggoner and Dustie Waring’s respective solos in the fantastic Blot that closes Automata I.
Additionally, without the sound variables that come with a venue show, the sound levels have been balanced perfectly – every instrument can be picked out with ease, as close to studio
quality as possible, for the duration of the hour-long set.
Two tracks – Yellow Eyes from the first album and The Grid from the second – receive their live debuts and sound as if they’ve been live staples for years, particularly the former; the build in the second half is simply glorious and receives a number of plaudits from the onscreen chat. Elsewhere, The Proverbial Bellow that opens Automata II once more stakes its claim as the strongest song the band have written to date, a perfect blend of classic prog and 21st-century metal, Millions provides the perfect foil following the debut of Yellow Eyes, and Glide, with its uptempo, jive-like guitar and keyboard causes a seismic digital moshpit of emojis and capital letters. BTBAM are seldom disappointing live as it is, but this hammers that home with utmost triumph. Those anniversary shows will be off the wall. ELLIOT LEAVER