“The Musical Colours Painting the Live Canvas” – Between the Buried and Me, with Car Bomb, Dazzle and Impress in Orange County

March 20th, 2022

     Continuing to push, bend, break, and colourize new barriers, Between the Buried and Me quite recently, released a follow-up to their 2007 magnum opus, Colors, appropriately named Colors II.  Arguably the most extreme you’ll hear Between the Buried and Me in Colors, with their Progressive elements, elusive genre elements such as Jazz and swing, as well as a frantically bombastic Death Metal sound, all grouped into 8 separate entities, yet are lightly broken up, giving the impression of the album being one 64-minute track.  Keeping that similar theme, Colors II shows the similar aggressive nature within the band’s longer passages, resounding counterpoints, and more growls from Tommy Giles Jr., than usual.  Any excuse to see the band perform, not to mention extra material from both Colors records, icing on the cake.

            Joining Between the Buried and Me, the only other band performing tonight, and for the tour, Mathcore fan-favourites Car Bomb.  Many have told me this was their first performance in the West Coast since around 2009, and you could feel the anticipation and bated breath, in this immensely packed venue.  Massively-pounding riffs, a bright, dizzying light show, were just some of Car Bomb’s on-stage abilities presented.  The Djent tone, and frantic picking, illuminated the raw power in their sound.  Noticeable too, the constant change in tempo, rhythm, off-beat drum hits from Elliot Hoffman.  It complimented Greg Kubacki’s chaotic harmonics, shape-shifting leads, and the abnormal nature of the general riffs.  Creating insane passages with wild pick scrapes, pitch-harmonics with pedal effects, to name a few, the overall music sounding “blitz-ful.”  The majority of the songs weren’t in 4/4 time, and it kept the twists and turns constant.  Just when you thought you had the tempo figured out, constant musical surprises, were felt and sonically discovered, all throughout Car Bomb’s set.

               Michael Dafferne’s humourous banter, and care-free energy in-between songs, kept the crowd engaged, and laughing constantly. Although his harsh vocals fit the music well, the sound tonight was a tad off.  Props to The Observatory for the Cannibal Corpse show recently, crystal clear and outstanding.  Tonight, the mix itself wasn’t quite optimal, as Dafferne’s spoken/clean vocals were low in the mix, more so blended with the instruments.  Car Bomb’s 60-minute set were met with a raving crowd, and several groups in the crowd wearing Car Bomb merch, indicated this unique tour mix, fit like an unopened glove.  For my first time seeing them live, and hearing their music properly, Car Bomb’s escalating, blitzkrieg-like tempo changes and heavy picking, was a delight to witness.           

1.  Finish It

2.  The Sentinel

3.  Nonagon

4.  Scattered Sprites

5.  From the Dust of This Planet

6.  Blackened Battery

7.  Gratitude

8.  Constant Sheep

9.  Black Blood

10.  HeLa

11.  Lights Out

12.  Antipatterns

13.  Dissect Yourself

14.  Secrets Within

     For the following 90-minutes, Between the Buried and Me astounded the crowd, with a heavy rendition of the Colors I-II material.  Compared to their “Evening set” this past September, the overall speed, crushing power, length of average song, and vocal fierceness for tonight’s show, was greatly noticeable.  The locust swarming intensity, from the intro of “Revolution in Limbo”, alongside the counterpoint frenzy following, demonstrated the band’s most relentless side of the coin.  Nailing each note with utter ease, Mark Waggoner’s tremendous mastery of the guitar, continues to be a marvel to watch each performance.  Hearing his play, through the masterpiece that is “Ants of the Sky”, not only playing his celestial solo, but the folky-outro to the song, switching up the distortion and tone settings so cleanly, I cannot imagine how long it took to create such songs and mindful transitions within them.          

     Much like The Black Dahlia Murder, Whitechapel, and Cannibal Corpse to name a few, seeing/watching the crowd participation for Between the Buried and Me, is another quality alone.  Screaming the lyrics effortlessly, constant moshing, and numerous cheers in-between solos, interludes, and singalongs, the passionate fanbase found with the band, creates joyful popping-bubbles of nostalgia.  The chorus in “Famine Wolf” echoed throughout The Observatory walls, from solid renditions of the vocals, to fans just going completely ape during it.  Sadly, I got into the band merely 8 or so years ago, but it’s remarkable to see the driving passion and dedication from their hardcore fanbase.

  “The Future is Behind Us”, had one of the most interesting beginnings of Between the Buried and Me’s set, a beautiful counterpoint/start-and-stop riff setup, with vocalist Tommy Giles Jr. and bassist Dan Briggs, performing a gleaming keyboard wavelength simultaneously.  The eclectic method to the madness of the band, accentuate how titan their sound, discography, and continued imagination, have been this entire time.  As a bit with Car Bomb earlier, guitarist Dustie Waring’s volume sounded about the same level as the keyboards.  Although it did create some fluttering colours within both instruments and the melodies played, when the blasting came about, or their more bombastic songs in the mix, some of his playing was lost in the volume portion.  Some favorites from The Coma Eclipse were in the set, but the encore itself was magnificent, as “Voice of Trespass” got the crowd going on its collective feet, ramping the energy to 11.  The “jazzy, Flapper, beat-tastic” character of the song, a breathtaking mix with the more aggressive nature in which Between the Buried and Me play to, made for an everlasting joy to end their time on-stage.      

            The sensational musical knowledge, teamwork, character, and journey, Between the Buried and Me have taken, glowingly show.  Colors II leaving off where Colors was, in terms of the magnetic, searing eclectic nature of the material, while not a carbon copy of the later, instead building off the important elements, and creating another pummeling, twisted, musical rabbit hole.  Able to see the band perform twice in less than a calendar year, can only be described as a win.  Hopefully, as they seem to do with their previous material, a whole playthrough of Colors II, in order, sooner than later.

1.  The Double Helix of Extinction

2.  Revolution in Limbo

3.  Fix the Error

4.  Ants of the Sky

5.  Dim Ignition

6.  Famine Wolf

7.  Informal Gluttony

8.  Bad Habits

9.  The Future is Behind Us

10.  Condemned to the Gallows

11.  Selkies:  The Endless Obsession

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12.  Voice of Trespass