Between the Buried and Me -- 'The Silent Circus' [review]

Between the Buried and Me
"The Silient Circus"
Victory Records


North Carolina's Between the Buried and Me (BTBM) is looking to make a big name for themselves nationally with the release of their Victory Records debut, "The Silent Circus." The band\'s self-titled 2002 release garnered moderate attention on the underground circuit, so much so that the band was playing shows with the likes of Poison the Well, Hatebreed and Malevolent Creation before signing with Victory. So, will "The Silent Circus" redefine people's existing notions of "metalcore" as their band bio suggests? Well ... perhaps. But new listeners will have to exercise a little patience when checking out the new album to form their own answers.

Guitarists Nick Fletcher and Paul Waggoner, drummer Mark Castillo, bassist Jason King and vocalist/keyboard player Tommy Rogers have created an interesting sound for themselves, combining hardcore melodies with death metal vocals, while at the same time being unafraid to throw in some keyboard bridges, acoustic guitar or haunting melodic singing. The caveat here is they don't mix and match the different music styles in the songs, but develop BTBM's sound throughout "The Silent Circus."

The disc's first three tracks -- "Lost Perfection: a) Coulrophbia," "b) Anablephobia" and "Camilla Rhodes" -- kick the album off with an assault of death metal vocals and thundering bass riffs and drum kicks. While the music aspect reminds me of a band like Suffocation, the vocals are of the more extreme Cannibal Corpse variety. I thought this was a hardcore band(?!).

A quick break from our review. Coulrophobia is the fear of clowns, while anablephobia is defined as "a persistent, abnormal, and irrational fear of looking up," which unfortunately causes millions of people needless distress every year. Glad we could all learn together. Use your newfound phobias with care. Now back to our review.

Track 4, "Mordecai," is when the band finally breaks free of its death metal sound. The album kicks off with death metal vocals alternating with extreme hardcore screaming. The song still sounds the same as the preceding three, but the band throws in some start/stop riffing that causes you to sit up and take notice. Mid-way through the song the intricate guitar chords give way to a mellow bridge with Rogers' wrought vocals shining through. It's like a breath of fresh air. Suddenly the "bridge" flourishes and the song immediately turns into something of an opus. THIS song is the reason to check out BTBM. It sounds nothing like what precedes it and really makes the band stand out from its contemporaries.

"Mordecai" gives way to "Reaction," which opens with Rogers on keyboards (the first time keyboards show up on the album). But "Reaction" seems to just be a bridge to "(Shevanel Take 2)," which can basically be boiled down to an acoustic track. Minimal drumming with alternating acoustic and electric guitar, complete with ballad-ly vocals. How can this be the same band that started off the album?

It's at this point I realize why BTBM were on tour with Poison the Well, as the layout of the tracks on this album remind me of Poison the Well's "Tear From the Red," except more extreme on the metal end, and more mellow on the softer tracks.

Track 7, "Ad a dglgmut," is a whiplash back to the death metal vocals at first, but soon gives way again to the more mellow singing and rhythmic underscores. Clocking in at over seven minutes, it's the longest song on the album -- a journey from BTBM's darkest, angriest sound, to one of its softest moments (with lyrics like "It all makes sense, we are capable of beauty.") and then back to the full-on metal dirge.

"Destructo Spin," "Aesthetic" and "The Need for Repetition" round out the disc. "Repetition" features a really interesting guitar sound that seems thick and heavy and adds interesting dimension to the vocals and is a great closer to the album. (Note: there is a hidden track tacked onto the end of "The Silent Circus" about 11 minutes into the last track.)

From the driving bass on a track like "Aesthetic" to the great guitar interplay "(Shevanel Take 2)" and intense extremes of the vocals, BTBM have created a unique disc. They've managed to bridge the huge gaps between the different sounds they attempt effortlessly, yet I wonder if the gap was too big to attempt to bridge. The band will hit the road in for a North American tour in 2004.

Static X -- 'Shadow Zone' [review]

Static-X
"Shadow Zone
Warner Brothers


Static-X burst onto the music scene in 1999 with the release of "Wisconsin Death Trip." At the time, I had just seen Static-X open for Fear Factory and remember being taken with lead singer Wayne Static's vocal delivery. It was fast paced and urgent ... and he wrote lyrics that rolled off his tongue in such a unique fashion. The music sounded almost industrial in nature (think: Ministry without the edge), and over the years developed into a mix of programming and metal almost on par with Rob Zombie's band for the solo material (only with all the production effects added).

"Death Trip" was, at its heart, a nice little metal album. Static did some programming effects for tracks throughout the disc, but the album as a whole, was a nice little kick in the ass for fans of that type of music. Songs like "Bled for Days" and the title track are as good today as they were four years ago while other bands making disposable music at the time have since disappeared.


Static-X followed up "Death Trip" with 2001's "Machine." The album was much heavier than its predecessor. Songs like "Get to the Gone" and "This is Not" were louder, angrier and more fierce than anything the band had offered up previously. At some point the band also offered up a track for an animated Batman series that sounded like trance music and seemed totally out of character for the band.

"Shadow Zone" seems to have taken a step back from the foundation laid by "Machine": the band toned the "heavy" down, and added a lot more programming -- it just seems overly apparent in every track. Plus -- and this is a complaint I heard about the band from fans and non-fans throughout the years -- each song seems to bleed into the other and sound the same. In the past I'd have disagreed, but "Shadow Zone" seems to lack whatever I had heard in the previous albums.

Each song has nice parts, but most of them don't seem very memorable. It's nice to hear the trademark Static growls at the end of the opening track, "Destroy All." Tony Campos' underlying bass riffs on "Control It" are fantastic, but the guitar riffing gets annoying after a while. "Control It" is actually one of the strongest tracks on the album and I'm surprised it wasn't the lead off-single as it's a track that showcases the elements that fans of the band have come to love.


"New Pain" starts off with some potential, but then there's a strange bridge after each chorus with weird vocals that detract from the overall sound the song has going for it. The title track has some nice vocal delivery from Static, but the actual lyrics seem nonsensical, and the song again suffers from a weak chorus heavy on the keyboards. The singing reminds me of "Bled for Days" only less threatening. The guitar work done by Static and Tripp Rex Eisen on "Dead World" is another trademark of the band, the buzzing back a forth of the two creates a nice frenetic atmosphere.


"Monster" has some great vocals again from Static. He just rattles off line after line at breakneck speed while the guitars grind along with him like a locomotive. While it's mostly a list of words or phrases, everything flows nicely together and actually makes sense.

"The Only" is a little slower than the tracks preceding it, but has a nice edge to it. The drumming and bass lines at the end of the song are a highlight of the track. "Kill Your Idols" is the closest song to sound like the Static-X of old. Musically "All in Wait" is strong, especially the bass, but the vocals seem distant and bring the song down. The programming on this track also seems out of place. "Otsegolectric" was the song I heard touted before the release of the disc, but doesn't really do anything to stand out on its own.

"So," a song about pushing a loved one away, is the best song on the "Shadow Zone." It's a great love-type song with a nice edge. It's the type of song you could put on a mix tape for someone, but still listen to it alone and get into it.

"Transmission" is just a bridge of noise and sounds to the last track, "Invincible." The band goes out on a slower note with this melancholic track that doesn't seem to fit in with its normal sound.

Well, at first listen it seems like Static-X has lost it's edge. The songs have strong elements, but suffer ultimately from either bad choruses or weird structure. The strongest songs on the disc have to be "Control It," "Shadow Zone," "Monster" and "So." I know that the programming is one element of the "Static-X sound," but I just feel like it gets overwhelming after a while. On second and third listens the band still comes off angry and loud, but in the end this album just didn't quite do "it" for me.

From Autumn to Ashes -- 'The Fiction We Live' [review]

From Autumn to Ashes

"The Fiction We Live"

Vagrant Records



"Climbing on the way up,

Sizing up the competition,

waiting for the right time,

To strike a chord and change your life."

-- From "Lilacs & Lolita"


When From Autumn to Ashes made the jump from Ferret Records, home/once-home to bands like A Static Lullaby and Killswitch Engage, fans wondered exactly how much the band's sound would be altered. Well, if ever a band benefited from the jump from an indie to major (or in this case, somewhat major) label, it's From Autumn to Ashes.

The concern on the part of the fans was not unfounded ... after all, From Autumn to Ashes, at its core, was a hardcore band experimenting with tinges of metal, acoustic guitar and heartfelt melody. Its first full-length release, "Too Bad You're Beautiful," was raw, aggressive, and beautiful all at the same time. Would the band become more mainstream? Would a major label tone down the hardcore aspects and play up the emo elements?

The answer to these questions is a resounding no.

After signing to Ferret Records, From Autumn to Ashes went and made a phenomenal From Autumn to Ashes disc. The band sounds more crisp and polished than ever, due in part to constant touring over the past few years, and also the great production work of Garth Richardson who has previously worked with the likes of Rage Against The Machine, L7, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ozzy Osbourne and Kittie (to name a few).

The band features two vocalists, lead singer Benjamin Perri and drummer Francis Mark, who trade off throughout the songs. Bassist Mike Pilato keeps a nice backbeat through the disc and has some nice breakout moments in some tracks (which I'll get to later). Guitarists Scott Gross and Brian Deneeve round out the line-up trading guitar riffs, neat little guitar licks and dive bombs from track to track. The beauty of the band is that no one aspect or member outshines the other, the five form a well-oiled machine and complement each other nicely.

The disc kicks off with "The After Dinner Paycheck," which had actually been released a month earlier on the Freddy Vs. Jason soundtrack. The track is a great introduction to the band's sound with Perri growling out vocals before Mark starts answering back about a minute in, with a more strained delivery, sounding slightly forced and more rock-centric. The bass and guitar tumble over each other like a steamroller before opening up with driving guitar riffs at a more frantic pace.

"No Trivia" is one of the best songs on the disc, both lyrically and musically. Pilato is great on the bass here while Mark handles all the vocals ... by the end of the song as he's yelling, "You know I care," I defy the listener to not get chills up the back of your neck.

By now the band's settled into a groove and the songs flow heavy and hard: "Milligram Smile" (which the band filmed a video for and may currently be seen on MTV2) combines quick verses with heavy drumming and guitar riffs alternating with acoustic bridges; "The Second Wrong Makes it Right" does the opposite with slower verses and more metal-like bridges and ends with a great piano piece.

"Autumns Monologue" is one of the strongest songs on the disc and one that fans will like more than casual listeners. Melanie Wills (of One True Thing) does the vocals on the track accompanied by only an acoustic guitar, piano and quiet drumming. The song is a continuation of "Short Stories With Tragic Endings," the last song off the band's previous effort "Too Bad..." Wills has a great voice and I highly recommend checking out her band (www.onetruething.net).

"Alive Out of Habit" and "All I Taste Today is What's Her Name" are strong tracks. "The Fiction We Live" is an answer song to "Autumns Monologue," the same song with Mark singing different vocals. I personally like the song a lot but sometimes skip over it because I feel like it would work better at the end of the disc, maybe as a hidden track. Instead the disc ends with "I'm The Best At Ruining My Life" which seems to end abruptly and leave you wanting more.