The Blue Nowhere (2025) - Between the Buried and Me
My history with metal has a clear throughline, starting from an exposure to bands like Mastodon and Avenged Sevenfold through games like Need for Speed: Most Wanted. From there, I would progress into bands like Gojira, Static-X, and finally Between the Buried and Me. At the time, I found them hard to get into. After a few listens of their album The Parallax II - Future Sequence, I finally started to get it. They were eclectic, progressive, and everything I wanted in a band. I've been in love with them ever since.
The band has a certain style about them that is hard to replicate and hard to get into. They will often follow the usual progressive time signatures and play fast and loose with typical song structures, but their style goes beyond that. They define genres entirely, with songs like Door #3 and Slow Paranoia swapping in metal shredding with flamenco and orchestral reprieves. Absent Thereafter follows a slow, piano driven section with bluegrass guitar picking. It's a beautiful thing to behold. BTBAM eschews labels in favor of good music of all roots.
Traditionally, most BTBAM albums follow a plotline. Parallax II follows the story of a pair of men joined across space and time, following their twin fate. The Blue Nowhere breaks from this tradition in favor of a collection of scattered thoughts, loosely revolving around a hotel called, you guessed it, The Blue Nowhere. Each song opens a door in this psychotic hotel, such as the mysterious Door #3, which is mentioned a few times throughout.
I should mention the band's current lineup. After a series of unfortunate events, longtime rhythm guitarist Dustie Waring left the band and has been replaced on tours by Tristan Aumen. I've seen him play with the band a couple of times, as recently as 5/24/26, and I think he makes for a worthy replacement. A hole will forever be left by Dustie, but if anyone can fill it, it's Tristan. As an aside, they are PHENOMENAL live, and if you get the chance to see them, go for it. They're a small, affordable indie band and they have consistently put out great shows with great opening bands.
The Blue Nowhere by its very nature will only appeal to a small group of people. That's just how it is, the band will never gain mass appeal because they're just too out there for the Top 40 Andys of the world. But for people willing to dig into something off the path off the main road and try something unfamiliar, this album is the best of Between the Buried and Me to date. It's an encapsulation of everything that makes the band great, and hopefully is a launching pad for the next chapter of my favorite band. My journey on the road of musical discovery is long and winding, but when I need to rest my head and relax, I know just the place...
