Between The Buried And Me return with their most immersive and eclectic record yet: The Blue Nowhere, out on 12th September via InsideOutMusic, the band’s debut album for the label.
Between The Buried And Me has built a reputation as one of heavy music’s most forward-thinking and creatively ambitious bands. Over the past 25 years, they have released ten albums, from their 2002 self-titled debut to 2021’s Colors II, blending technical mastery with conceptual depth.
Throughout their career their albums have consistently landed on year-end best-of lists, earned a GRAMMY® nomination in 2019 (with the award’s website praising their music as “versatile, imaginative and absolutely crushing the band’s music”), been dubbed “prog metal heroes” by Kerrang!, and praised by Guitar World for their “epic” and “hugely diverse” sound.
Known for their conceptual albums, vocalist/keyboard player Tommy Rogers explained that the 10-track collection “exists in a world that’s not tied to a storyline. It’s more about a feeling, where the songs live for me.” He describes the lyrical approach to The Blue Nowhere as “journal entries, fleeting and introspective thoughts – chaotic at times, depending on the music.”
The band – featuring Rogers, Paul Waggoner (Guitars), Dan Briggs (Bass/keyboards), and Blake Richardson (Drums) – offer fans a first feel for the new album with the release of ‘Things We Tell Ourselves In The Dark’ available here alongside an accompanying video you can check out here at RAMzine.
Director Miles Skarin commented on the video: “’For ‘Things We Tell Ourselves In The Dark’ we wanted to create the hotel from the album concept and artwork – we 3D-modelled the hotel based on the artwork and began to create shots of it at different times of day. Marigold is a theme across the record, so we have a scene where lots of marigold petals start to cover the hotel. This was quite an intense particle simulation that took 17 hours to process and render. We also added surreal elements to the video, including infinite hotel corridors and strange space sequences with the doors to the different rooms in the hotel. We’re really pleased with the final look and hope that everyone enjoys seeing the hotel come to life!”
“This track emerged from the maniac genius of Dan Briggs,” Rogers revealled. “The song deals with the dark cloud that is ego, so I tried to vocally approach it with a different kind of confidence than normal, almost like a pop song… Even though it takes you down crazy avenues, you can sit back and sing along.”
Briggs himself added: “It’s one of the rare songs I started around the bass and that foundational funky idea, while also maintaining a pretty straightforward melodic idea underneath everything, no matter how dense it got rhythmically. I love when we have arrangements that feel like they have a page turn into another dimension, but I thought it was important for this one to feel really seamless as it moved dynamically. Even when it gets heavy, I thought it’d be fun at the core to still feel like it was Prince’s band playing, keeping it funky.”
Produced by longtime collaborator Jamie King, The Blue Nowhereis also the first Between The Buried And Me album to feature an extensive string and horn section. It will be available as a special edition CD, gatefold 2LP, and digitally. A deluxe gatefold special colored 2LP + 2CD edition includes a bonus track on Side D, the full album and instrumentals across 2CDs, an exclusive door-hanger, and alternate artwork. Copies can ordered here.
The Blue Nowhere track listing is: ‘Things We Tell Ourselves In The Dark’, ‘God Terror’, ’Absent Thereafter’, ‘Pause’, ‘Door #3’, ‘Mirador Uncoil’, ‘Psychomanteum’, ‘Slow Paranoia’, ‘The Blue Nowhere’ and ‘Beautifully Human’.
Between The Buried And Me will be at the ArcTanGent festival on 15-16th August at Compton Martin, England.
