With much anticipation I have waited for BTBAM’s follw-up to their masterpiece, Colors, and let me tell you, it was worth the wait.
First impression of The Great Misdirect was actually not so hot. But, as I have come to learn when listening to BTBAM, you must give each record time, cycling it through repeated listens in order to fully grasp what is going on in this sonic clusterfuck of an album.
While Alaska was the beginning of a new chapter for the band as a whole, and Colors was another great step in the new direction, this is the longest standing line-up in the band’s history and you can really hear their contentment and familiarity in each song. The standout musician on this record is definitely bassist Dan Briggs. It seems he has finally come into his own within the band. His weaving and flowing bass lines drive every song and are at times the most prominent aspect of the record. It’s rare to say that about a metal band. Big thumbs up to Mr. Briggs on this one.
Like with Colors, the album starts off with a melancholy dirge reminiscent of Blind Melon crossed with King Crimson before breaking into the furiously paced “Obfuscation”, which is eerily similar to most all opening tracks on their last 3 albums. Nonetheless, it’s a killer track and the hook has me chanting every time it rears its ugly head.
The next song is my personal favorite. “Disease, Injury, Madness” starts off as unrelenting as anything they’ve ever recorded and pushes on with no hint of stopping... But then it does. That’s my only problem with the song, and the record as whole, it doesn’t seem to flow very coherently; I personally think this song should have been split into two. While it’s no Colors, it is still a bit of a concept album at heart and too often songs seem to just fade out and fade back in. It’s disappointing because I always found BTBAM’s ability to write seamless transitions between chaotic death metal and atmospheric rock to be one of their strongest points. While there are definitely great instances of that on this record, it seems a bit lazy at times.
Regardless, they really make up for it once you hit the 7-minute mark on “Disease, Injury, Madness”. This is possibly the coolest piece of music they have ever created. It’s tinged with the blues and drives like nothing I’ve ever heard on a death metal record before. I can’t help but want to outright dance and headbang at the same time.
“Fossil Genera” is a fun and pummeling ride of silent film era death metal that really never lets up for the full 12 minutes of its assault. The only song I don’t really care for at all is the slow rock ballad “Desert of Song”. It drags on and feels like it should’ve been shortened and fit into the middle of another, longer song somewhere.
But on the plus side, it does segue quite nicely into the closer, “Swim to the Moon”, which, despite being the longest song on the record, is the most well constructed. It takes a bit from everything BTBAM has previously done and pushes it forward to the next logical step. The high point of the song is the solid 7 or 8 minutes of instrumental madness overflowing with groove and guitar solos. Tommy even manages to throw in a keyboard solo, which he pulls of rather well, in my opinion.
Overall, this is yet another stellar release from one of the most promising and talented young bands in the scene today. Their progression since the days of their self-titled debut has been nothing short of extraordinary and I can only hope that it will continue that way. The Great Misdirect is another slam-dunk and easily one of the standout records of the year.
And you can catch them this winter on tour with fucking Devin Townsend and Cynic! Should be a helluva ride.
8/10
Track Listing:
1. Mirrors
2. Obfuscation
3. Disease. Injury. Madness.
4. Fossil Genera - A Feed From Cloud Mountain
5. Desert of Song
6. Swim to the Moon
Favorite song: Swim to the Moon
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