Between The Buried And Me
November 29, 2015
Mayan Theater- Los Angeles, CA
Between the Buried and Me released their seventh album Coma Ecliptic on July 10, 2015. They went on the third Coma Ecliptic tour in the USA and one of the bands they brought them with them was veteran metal band, Enslaved. Fans of either or both bands were lined up outside the venue hours prior to the show starting. This was two different styles of metal coming together for this tour. Some fans were fans of one band but not the other, while some fans were fans of both so seeing both bands together was a special treat.
Norwegian extreme/black metal band Enslaved released their thirteenth album In Times on March 10, 2015. Since its release, they have been actively touring for it. Enslaved came out on stage and fans went wild for them as they are truly adored by their fans. Starting the show with Fusion of Sense and Earth from the Ruun 
album, frontman Grutle Kjellson unleashed his black metal vocals on the crowd and prepared everyone for what was to be a great performance. Fans of Between the Buried and Me most likely have never heard of Enslaved and this was their chance to see a truly talented band. Enslaved has a great stage presence and Kjellson and guitarist Arve “Ice” Isdal would often face each other and play side by side. Isdal has his own stage presence often lifting his guitar in the air and going wild while shredding. The second song played was Death in the Eyes of Dawn from the previous RIITIIR album and is one of the longer songs played at just over eight minutes long.
To promote the new album, Enslaved next played one of the best songs from the new album, Building With Fire and would be the longest song played that night at almost nine minutes. As Enslaved started playing Ground from the Vertebrae album, a mosh pit commenced and fans showed Enslaved that they loved them. After that song, Kjellson greeted fans and told them that this next song was from the same album and it was titled….The Watcher! A favorite among fans, you could see fans singing along and headbanging to the song. Kjellson took a quick break to thank everyone that came out and made note of guitarist and co-founding member Ivar Bjornson being on his third cup of beer. Kjellson then took the time to introduce everyone in the band. Being that Enslaved was an opening band, it was sad to see that they had a very short set of about 45 minutes. It was time to call it a night as Enslaved played the final song of the night, Convoys to Nothingness. This was a great song to end the night with as the middle part of the song changes from a fast pace to a slower pace giving you a sense of doom. Enslaved finished the show and left the stage as fans cheered for them, yet were sad to have them leave so soon. Fans can only wait for another headlining tour as they did earlier this year with a longer set.
Between the Buried and Me is a progressive metal band from North Carolina, USA. They are currently one of the biggest prog metal bands. With the release of their newest album Coma Ecliptic, Between the Buried and Me were ready to once again display their amazing musicianship live to their die-hard fans. Between the Buried and Me started the show with the first and title track from the new album, The Coma Machine. Frontman Tommy Rogers sang the song with clean vocals and fans started singing along to the beginning, “You teach us what was…you teach us what was!” Between the Buried and Me is known for their long songs so it’s no surprise that they started the show with this seven and a half minute song. Fans loved getting a taste of the new album, but the show was just starting. Next up was Informal Gluttony from their highly praised 2007 Colors album. Fans loved that surprise and screamed in joy as the band played on. This song also made the crowd go wild and created a mosh pit…or at least it tried to, to where the moshers ended up dancing amongst themselves. Aside from their stage presence, the band included a very impressive light show to go along with their space-like music. Sun of Nothing was next and was the follow up to Informal Gluttony from the same album. Fans seemed to be enjoying themselves with this song as they formed a conga line in the mosh pit area to match the vibe of the song. After the conga line, the same fans would hold their arms up in a robot stance and spin around like a sun. Between the Buried and Me teased fans with 
the second half of Backwards Marathon before continuing on with another new song, Turn on the Darkness. The piano intro to the song drove the fans crazy and they cheered for new tunes. Since they loved the new songs, the band played yet another new song The Ectopic Stroll which has another piano intro, but with a more 1920’s feel. Guitarist and co-founding member Paul Waggoner spoke to the crowd for a bit, thanked them for coming out, had the crowd give a round of applause to the opening bands, then announced the last song of the night. That song would be Fossil Genera – A Feed from Cloud Mountain which clocked in as one of the longest songs of the night at just over 12 minutes. Fans took the opportunity to enjoy themselves one last time by creating a mosh pit. The band left the stage, but wasn’t prepared to leave the show just yet. Fans chanted “B-T-BAM! B-T-BAM! B-T-BAM!” as an effort to get the band to come back out. It worked as the band came out to perform the first encore, Silent Night Parliament from the previous The Parallax II: Future Sequence album. It was the longest song of the night at fifteen minutes showing their fans the meaning of progressive metal. To end the night, Between the Buried and Me followed from the first encore with Goodbye to Everything Reprise from the same album. It was a calmer song compared to their setlist. Rogers lifted his hand in the air and moved it left to right in a waving manner while fans followed his lead and was a very impressive sight. Between the Buried and Me finished the show and fans let out loud cheers as they were satisfied with the band’s performance. What a night at planet prog.
Review by: Misael Ruiz
Between The Buried and Me
Enslaved
