ATOMIC MUSIC FESTIVAL: Between the Buried and Me

The men of BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME have once again charted an expedition into undiscovered country. Colors, BTBAM's fifth and newest release, is a continuous, sonic labyrinth of savage metal, lush prog-rock and uninhibited emotion. "It's the ultimate BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME record," says vocalist Tommy Rogers. "It's definitely the most musical thing we have ever written. It goes through so many shifts and moods but still feels very organic and comfortable."

"Comfortable" is exactly where BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME should be right now. After countless tours, nearly 250,000 records sold, and recording four of the decade's most celebrated albums, BTBAM have every right to feel invigorated. BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME began in 2000 when Tommy Rogers met Paul Waggoner and agreed to craft a style of hard rock that would defy categorization. Their impressive, self-titled debut was a widely heralded collection of stomping, progressive metal and hardcore filled with brutal breakdowns mixed with intricate musicianship and shifts in mood.

The band signed with VICTORY RECORDS shortly after and followed suit with another pivotal release within the metal/hardcore underworld entitled The Silent Circus. This album was another chapter in the ever-evolving band and put them on the map of today's modern wave of forward-thinking American metal. After several line-up changes, the band finally found their footing with 2005's Alaska. New members Dan Briggs, Dustie Waring and Blake Richardson immediately clicked with Rogers and Waggoner and gave BTBAM the kind of foundation that would allow them to take their unique brand of rock to the masses.

"Alaska was written together and it was really us, with the newer members, Blake, Dustie and Dan just finding our sound," explains Rogers of the new family members and their third full-length release. "After that record, we really felt that we found our niche."

"I had just joined the band and they had the title track already written," says bassist Dan Briggs. "We didn't know each other and we all had new ideas in writing more for that record. We went on tour right after it was completed." The touring went non-stop and brought them face to face with the heavy metal summer camp known as Ozzfest. The Anatomy Of…, their fourth release, contained renditions of classics by Metallica, Queen, Depeche Mode and Faith No More and was released just as Ozzfest kicked off that summer. The response was phenomenal and helped open BTBAM up to an even wider audience, giving the world a closer idea of the broad creativity that resides in them. But it was hardly an indication of what was yet to come. The demanding summer and fall of 2006 was the catalyst for the band to begin work on what would become Colors. They felt inspired and enthused by the challenge ahead of them.

"This is the best that the band has been since day one," says vocalist Tommy Rogers. "We wanted a much more epic feel to the record and make it clear that this would be a complete album, not just a collection of songs," Rogers explains. "You have to listen to this all the way through to really get it. Today, music is all about singles and videos and the other songs are just filler. We really did something that we are all very proud of and feel this is opening a whole new chapter for us"

Colors is not just an ambitious piece of music, it is a monolithic step forward in the advancement of hard rock. This record affirms that the music of BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME is as emotionally engaging and beautiful as it is brutally empowering and complex. So it seems only fitting that such a groundbreaking studio album would be just as good, if not better, live. In October of 2008, Colors Live was released to the public. The two disc CD/DVD set offers live footage of a performance in Nashville, as well as special features.