More than halfway into our list we now invite you to look at today’s Album of the Year. Bare in mind none of these are in order but are merely part of our countdown!
So far we have had :
- Jakub Zyteki – Wishful Lotus Proof
- Agent Fresco – Destrier
- Cain’s Offering – Stormcrow
- Tesseract – Polaris
- Unleash The Archers – Time Stands Still
- Lamb of God – VII : Sturm Und Drang
- Lindemann – Skills and Pills
- The Black Dahlia Murder – Abysmal
- Amorphis – Under The Red Cloud
- Steven Wilson – Hand Cannot Erase
- Saurom –
- Napalm Death – Apex Predator
- Blind Guardian – Beyond The Red Mirror
And at day fourteen we have
Between The Buried and Me – Coma EclipticÂ
The concept album a sometimes unnatainable Holy Grail of the Progressive world. Having previously flirted with the idea Between The Buried and Me teased the idea that they might be experimenting with the notion. Blossoming from their almost hardcore come Death Metal beginnings the band began to play with the different ideas until at long last finally creating the album the band have alway threatened to with Coma Ecliptic.
The definition of a rock opera the album is a seventy two minute tour de force. Ever playing with the idea of reality, our protagonist in Coma Ecliptic is given the ability to move through various past lives. Surging forwards but not granted the chance to return potentially trapped forever in a different plain of existence. Intrigue and excitement are the orders of the day along with the musical notion being the same. Mirroring our characters experience the composition is masterfully executed, with our musical thread running through the album as a recurring musical theme. Musically the landscape of Coma Ecliptic is the most ambitious the band have dealt with from the carnival bizzare of “The Ectopic Stroll” or the Floydian “Rapid Calm” neatly put together in an easy to follow yet ever revealing musical and theoretical arc. Building on the foundations laid by the instrumental triathlon that was Colors the band forgoe technicality in favour of cohesive song writing.
Though afflicted somewhat of a limited replay value the concept album can be its own worst enemy. A big undertaking for the listener yet with Coma Ecliptic Between The Buried and Me have created a portal into the dimension of the weird and wonderful, with easy to follow steps essentially making the record Prog by numbers all the while retaining the mystique surrounded by the genre. Cementing their status as major league players in the genre this year our caterpillars have bloomed into a fantastic, eclectic and truly breathtaking butterfly.
