BTBAM REVEAL NEW TWO-PART CONCEPT
Between The Buried And Me branch out on their sixth studio album.
Between The Buried And Me’s Automata I sees the band returning to their heavier roots. The first instalment of the two-part album, out via Sumerian on March 9, explores themes of identity, loss, isolation and mental illness.
“This is probably the most detailed and deep narrative we’ve ever had for any of the concepts we’ve done,” reveals guitarist Dustie Waring. “Tommy [Giles Rogers, vocalist] was saying, ‘What would terrify me? What would be the worst thing ever?’ And he said it would be if he woke up one day and his wife and [five-year-old] son were gone. The first song starts as he wakes up and his family are gone, so [Condemned To The Gallows and House Organ] are about his search. It’s just as nutty and dense as you would expect from a nerdy prog band like us!”
BTBAM’s first album for Sumerian, which is also home to Animals As Leaders and Chon, sees them moving away from the unbridled experimentalism of 2015’s acclaimed Coma Ecliptic. Waring says, “We don’t want to keep making the same album. Coma… was a heavy record but it was less aggressive than any of our other releases so we made a conscious effort to write a heavier album this time.”
The US band have just begun their North American tour and hope to bring their live shows to the UK later this year. For more, visit www.betweentheburiedandme.com.
Now turn to page 101 for Prog’s review of Automata I.