Album Review: Between the Buried and Me – The Blue Nowhere (InsideOutMusic)

25 years and 10 genre-defining albums into their storied career, GRAMMY®-nominated Between the Buried and Me return with their most immersive and eclectic record yet: The Blue Nowhere, out September 12th via InsideOutMusic.

The Blue Nowhere is what happens when a band hits a creative high, lets their imagination run wild, and has the talent to showcase their eccentricities in appealing and addictive fashion. We all know Between the Buried and Me are a great band, as a litany of previous releases have proven, but we really can say that we never know what we’re going to get with the next. Indescribable? To some degree especially as they are one of the most genre bending and blurring bands out there and The Blue Nowhere embodies this, and so much more, for over 70 minutes.

Is it special? In ways you won’t be able to comprehend until you hear it, and hear it again, and again, and so on. Featuring ten dynamic efforts, each with so many eclectic and electric twists and turns along the way. You’ll hear funky grooves, proggy weirdness, rocking anthemic tones, singalong and danceable swing, bullish metal intensity, dramatic and cinematic melody, extravagant showtune-esqe flashes, lovable synth, and so much more across the album length.

From the moment Things We Tell Ourselves in the Dark introduces the album, most will be hooked. All because the peculiarities on display are so vibrant, so exciting, and so much fun, especially when coupled with Between the Buried and Me’s hookier edge. It’s a spectacular start, almost matched by the blend of blunted heaviness (evident by some real vocal intensity), smooth rhythms, and sharpened prog twists of God Terror. Before one of the album’s best tracks, Absent Thereafter, arrives in a frenetic miasma of progressive noise, delectable melody, and so much more. It’s ten-minutes long and feels a third of that because it is so staggeringly clever.

Not just on a creative high, but in a confident place too, Between the Buried and Me have hit another career highlight here and the middle part of the album puts the exclamation mark on that statement. Featuring the absurdly brilliant Pause, the exceptionally fascinating Door #3, the smile-inducing Mirador Uncoil, and the remarkably listenable insanity of Psychomanteum. Song after song of unforgettable brilliance.

Every time you think they’ve hit their album peak, they find a way to go further, and the latter part of the album might feature the strongest tracks of all. From the all-encompassing strangeness of Slow Paranoia and the way in which Between the Buried and Me combine potent heaviness with playful melody and sparkling theatrics. To the gorgeous title track, which can be best summed up as a deeply dramatic, magnificently melodic, and daringly cinematic effort. Before this spectacular, varied, and striking album wraps up with Beautifully Human, a finale that lives up to its position.

Once again, Between the Buried and Me have outdone themselves and delivered an album that is so unique, even for them. It is so special and so rewarding that everyone willing to give it a chance will come away with something they love about it.

Between the Buried and Me – The Blue Nowhere Track Listing:

1. Things We Tell Ourselves in the Dark
2. God Terror
3. Absent Thereafter
4. Pause
5. Door #3
6. Mirador Uncoil
7. Psychomanteum
8. Slow Paranoia
9. The Blue Nowhere
10. Beautifully Human

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