Between The Buried And Me and The Dillinger Escape Plan At London LA2
It’s hard to know where to start when you’re talking about bands like Between The Buried And Me. They seemingly intentionally deny any attempt to be categorised or pigeonholed, other than putting them under the vague, generic title of ’spazzy metal’. Which I’m not sure is actually an ‘official’ genre but it serves a purpose, covering Dillinger to Sikth and many more. All entries of ideas for a better title on a postcard to the address at the end of the show. It’s the clashing of styles and their unflinching loyalty to tunes that are technical to the point of being unlistenable that makes these bands so hard to pin down, and perhaps explains why I’ve never been able to become a massive fan.
North Carolina’s Between The Buried And Me are one of the rare examples that I do like as they bring something uniquely bizarre to the table. Both on CD and live it’s an experience roughly equivalent to giving a kid with ADD a radio and getting them to spin through the channels, recording the ensuing torrent of noise. One second you’ll be reeling from a hefty, punishing slice of solid metal grooves, the next it’s like you’ve strolled into a jazz funk festival, before taking a quick journey through the melodies of a freakish lullaby and finally landing on the most technical of layered, freakish guitar breakdowns. If schizophrenia had a soundtrack this would possibly be it, but in the best possible sense. They’re entertaining to watch, accomplished in their instrumentation and determined in their ambition to have a good time whilst peeling apart the boundaries of normal tunes. And your brain.
Dillinger Escape Plan are one of those bands I’ve always wanted to see. Not because I’ve heard a lot of their stuff - I had pretty much zero experience of them before this gig - but because they’re referenced and looked up to by so many other bands, their tshirts being worn at every distant corner of the metal community. It’s a select club of bands that seem to have this scope and influence, alongside Danzig, Black Dahlia Murder, Glassjaw of course, a few others, so they definitely seemed like worth watching. As much as I’d love to say they blew me away, I can’t, I can only review based on what I did and didn’t like. Don’t get me wrong, there were two or three stunningly well crafted tunes in there, all heavily layered guitars and intense vocals with musical textures so thick you could practically wrap yourself in them, as well as a few other standalone moments including one fine singalong chorus and a bit of monkey bars across the light rig by vocalist Greg which lead to the venue staff threatening to pulling the plug on the whole thing. I just have a massive problem with the fact that the other sixty or seventy percent of the show is made up of an undefinable barrage of noise. I’m sure avid fans would claim it’s technical and complicated but I personally find no interest in watching four guys hammer at their instruments with an almost autistic level of repetition. There’s a fine line between intricate genius and mindless monotony. Hopefully on CD I’ll track down those tunes that I loved but I think seeing them live just the once will do for now.
Tags: Between The Buried And Me, The Dillinger Escape Plan
