It's been an year... From delving into an unknown wierd song with a long name and a band with the longer name.... Lay Your Ghosts to Rest by Between the Buried and me.. Jesus that's a mouthful....
Now i am bought in... I have listened to the complete discography several times over...
Albums I can play on repeat several times again - Colors, Colors II, Automata II, The Parallax II: Future Sequence, Coma Ecliptic
The rest i cant get somehow.... What is it aabout Alaska and The Great Misdirect that i am not getting???
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I don’t understand the community hate for the great misdirect it’s in my top 3 for them.
It’s the forgotten album per se. I always saw it as a album they made for themselves instead of for the fans.
“Hey, think we can write a 20 minute song on an album with only 6 tracks?”
“I don’t know but let’s find a way”
I love it personally. In many ways it’s better than Colors, it’s just not as influential.
The real forgotten album is Parallax I. I know that because OP didn't even mention it lol.
The Great Misdirect is easily one of their best albums.
Haha yeah, and all three songs are bangers.
Secular Reflection is my all time favorite BTBAM song
i’m with you there lol. i don’t think i’ve heard them play a parallax 1 song live once. disease injury madness is my absolute, all time favorite btbam song.
🐎
They basically never play Parallax 1 songs sadly. AFAIK no one has ever gotten an actual definitive answer as to why, as even the band seems to vaguely answer the question or just make a joke and move on.
Over the years I remember hearing/reading the following reasons. It is too annoying and hard to rehearse and perform (which seems the least likely given how insanely difficult some of their stuff is that they play regularly). They don’t like the album for various reasons. Paul has said along the lines of “It brings up feelings we don’t like”, and has joked at Q&A about “forgetting” about the album.
Ive heard they rushed the album and only did 30 minutes because it was they needed one more release to end their contract with a previous label they were having issues with. Ive heard the label more or less told them to make a short EP and they didn’t like the time constraint (contradicting the previous theory I had heard)
Whatever the reason is, they haven’t played any Parallax 1 since I believe 2012. They clearly do not like playing that album for whatever reason. Im curious and would love a definitive answer from them, but realize they ultimately owe us nothing and don’t need to give their reasons why, especially if they are personal reasons
Disease Injury Madness really got me into the band and they quickly became my favorite
Specular Reflection is one of my favourite songs.
Lunar Wilderness is always forgotten.
Augment of Rebirth goes HARD
Lmao, in what world is TGM a forgotten album?
In a world where it is a valley in between two mountains called Colors and P2.
Obfuscation is my favorite BTBAM song, and the rest ain’t bad either. So glad I got to hear it live.
Every single track on the album is insanely good. I think lyrically it's one of their best work. Their layers in Swim to The Moon is the reason that song is my favorite of theirs next to Silent Flight Parliament.
There's no weak song on that album.
Seeing TGM live was fuckin transcendental. Seeing Swim to the Moon live is still the highlight of my concert experiences.
Really can't see why any BTBAM fan post-Alaska could not love TGM. Disease Inury Madness is so fucking good. This album tells so so much more about the lore across the albums and more importantly the tale of The Night Owls, the antagonist of the story. As I mentioned, lyrically this is some of their best work and I'll probably say instrumentally too.
It’s my favorite album of all time regardless of artist. So I’m with you
Colors and The Great Misdirect are their Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here. The second might be better, but it’s gonna be hard for people to see that immediately after the last groundbreaking release
Damn dude. You’re supposed to hit the nail on the head, not punch it through the wall.
It’s bc most of the fanbase became fans after the heavier stuff that started their history - - TGM is their last real resemblance of that time of btbam - to each their own… we’re all fans …. I’ll forever love the first half of the discography FAR more like a lot of the old heads
Can’t replace the memories of being in high school and listening to The Silent Circus, forever changing your outlook on music 🤘
TGM is also a top 3 for me.
One of the greatest guitar riffs ever written is in Disease Injury Madness (the one that comes in just after that bass solo). Chills every time
Disease, injury, madness is my favorite song of all their songs
Easily
I was just saying this to myself today. Go back and listen to that album it's...SO GOOD. Alaska is good on its own and the first to albums show how far the band has come. To me alask is the transition to what they are today. And imo TGM is right up there with colors as the fully evolved version of btbam. TGM deserves more love. Plus it's heavy as shit in a lot of places I feel more than a lot of the other work.
It’s because they’re all new comers.
Community hate for TGM? This is the first I'm hearing of it.
IMHO, the three greatest albums ever written by anyone are Colors, TGM, and Parallax.
Same!!!
Easily their BEST!!!!
The surround sound mix of it on the deluxe version was soooo good
Probably my second favorite album of theirs. Was my first for a looooong time until Parallax II suddenly clicked one day.
Probably my favorite, and I didn’t get to see the tour because they changed the date to when I was across the pond :(
Is there community hate for it? I far more often see people say it is their favourite or top 3 than saying they don’t like it
it's their version of Moments of Clarity for Erra.
It’s my personal favourite of theirs and it’s not even close.
Selkies An Endless Obsession, Alaska, Obfuscation, and Swim to the Moon are among the best songs they ever produced. Desert of Song is my favorite country song.
Maybe the albums just aren't for you?
just doesn’t enjoy heavy music if they don’t like alaska. alaska is the perfect bridge between their original and new sound
Alaska isn't nearly as prog as the others mentioned.
Only thing I can think of for TGM is that it's not a concept album? Idk cause TGM is honestly peak BTBAM, so it's hard for me to fathom how or why it's not connecting with you. Stylistically they found their sound from Colors onward, and if anything TGM is a more refined product after Colors was their debut with that sound. Maybe it needs more listens? Define "several times over"
IIRC, The Great Misdirect is their heaviest post-Alaska album, even accounting for Desert of Song, which isn’t heavy at all. So if they don’t like Alaska, which has a lot of heavy riffs, is almost entirely through-composed, and has very little use of musical motif, they may not enjoy The Great Misdirect, which is similar but it has more recurring parts/“choruses” and uses a shitload of musical motif. But most importantly, that album is fuckin’ heavy.
TGM is also an intense album with very little “casual” listening. You’ve got essentially 4 long-ass songs, an intro song, and an interlude song — and it’s a longer album than Colors, so those 4 songs are doing a LOT of heavy lifting.
It’s my personal favorite BTBAM album though, because each song is an entire musical journey all by itself, and Fossil Genera is IMO one of the finest BTBAM songs ever written.
On the topic of it being a concept album, I think a lot of people think one song going directly into another = concept album, and they’ll be pretty disappointed to hear that Taylor Swift has more concept albums than their favorite prog artists.
But if someone likes Colors I, I think they should definitely like TGM.
Agree that it's probably my favorite, though P2 is a strong contender. That whole era TGM>P1>P2 is peak BTBAM.
Colors is almost 5 minutes longer than TGM, but those four are definitely still doing heavy lifting
TGM isn’t a concept album?
Not to my knowledge. The criteria of a concept album is either musical concepts that are reprised within different songs but no lyrical themes/concepts(like Colors 1), an actual lyrical concept/story without any reprised musical themes(there are no BTBAM albums like this that I am aware of), or a combination of both (Parallax 2 and most other prog concept albums).
TGM doesn't reprise anything musically within itself or have any repeating musical themes. Mirrors/Obfuscation do, both lyrically and musically, but that just makes them companion songs, and they don't tie to anything else lyrically or musically on the album. DIM is a standalone song about a cult, Fossil Genera ties into the Parallax saga and is about the Night Owls. Desert I don't actually know what it's about, but lyrically "sing with the fear" appears in Prehistory. Lastly, STTM is the very beginning of the Parallax story. None of these four songs share any musical themes.
So while there are two different groups of two songs that are kind of related for different reasons, the remaining two songs are standalone and unrelated lyrically or musically to anything else on the album. Compare that to P1+2, Coma, and Automata, which are all both lyrically and musically conceptual and very clearly concept albums.
This comment should be 100% accurate and truthful, but if anybody has information that proves otherwise please share
If I recall, Desert of song is about a world where music is outlawed. But of course people still play music in secret.
BTBAM did The Astonishing before it was coolJK The Astonishing was never cool and I say that as an Astonishing fan
I didn’t realize DMI was a ‘stand alone’ song. The rest always seemed to be among the same theme but admittedly I’ve never been too much of lyrical scholar so I appreciate your breakdown. Today I learned.
Glad I can put years of obsession to informative use lol
What you need to do is - Close one eye, step to the side.
Alaska was mindblowing for me at the time it came out. At the time, post-hardcore / metalcore / progcore / whatever-other-core was gaining a ton of traction. It brought a weirdness and jazz/prog element into a scene dominated by 4/4 songs and pop-structured songs with breakdowns.
That said… it is very much a product of its time. I very, very rarely go back and listen to the albums before Colors. They just… aren’t as good. The production isn’t great (also a downfall of the scene in general). I think of Alaska as the point they broke away from the pack, but hadn’t found exactly what they wanted to become. As a dude in my 40s, it’s hard to shake any hardcore roots. I still actively seek out new -core stuff to listen to and refine from there.
Alaska is a transitional point for the band. TGM, on the other hand, in my opinion, just fell victim to a non-sophomore sophomore slump. Colors is one of the top albums ever in any adjacent or overlapping subgenre. It’s a good album, it has some great songs, but it was overlooked because BTBAM hit every single swing out of the park on Colors… so it made TGM seem kinda “meh.”
Edit: wanted to add: this is just my opinion as I look back on things. People that do deep dives on artists they’re new to see things very differently from folks that were there at the moment. I hope that makes sense.
I was there. Alaska blew peoples minds but, Colors was an event like, everyone just learned something new all at once and couldn't wait to tell someone about it.
Of all their albums, TGM might be the one that ages most like a fine wine. Don’t get me wrong, Colors is an all-timer and is probably still my deserted island album due to a combination of how gutsy and influential it was, and how nostalgic it makes me feel.
However, there’s just something about TGM that has aged so well. 15 years after the fact, it actually blows my mind that they followed Colors up only 2 years later with an album that is arguably just as good if not better. Fossil Genera… chef’s mother fuckin kiss.
I have no clue cause TGM is one of the best albums I've ever heard much less from this band alone.
The Great Misdirect is peak so idk what the issue is 💀
First 3 albums are more technical metalcore stuff. So many bands basically tried to replicate them, and they went prog with Colors as they got sick of the metalcore stuff. I got into them during this period as they're a local band here.
I can see if prog fans don't like this era and if metalcore fans don't like the prog stuff.
I don't remember the story behind TGM, I think it's them combining the two eras.
Alaska and their self titled were an early style. Colors marks their shift to their progressive era. Back in the day I enjoyed a few songs off Alaska but wasn’t all the way committed. Colors changed that and I was hooked.
For me, the great misdirect is one of my favorites but everyone is different. Maybe it will take more listens. Maybe since I listened to it when it was out and Parallax was just a dream it made a bigger impression then.
In either case, welcome to our journey, please walk with me.
We made very similar posts within like 2 minutes of one another. Cheers! Happy cake day.
Roboturner, Croakies, Selkies, Autodidact, Backwards Marathon (You need to headbang)
Disease, Injury, Madness (I had never listened music like it before)
But after Fossil Genera, I became a lifelong fan.
Desert of Song is just a beautiful song about songs and musicianship.
Swim to the Moon clicked with me after reading the lyrics and trying to immerse myself within the painting they are trying to display. Just... let go of everything and chase the moon.
My take. It's hard to follow something like colors and Alaska is very early in the game. As a twenty year listener, I love where they are now and cannot wait to see where they are going. That's not to say I do not like either album. My roots are heavy music so Alaska gets me going and TGM is the album for me that says alright everyone, here is where we are headed, sorry if it's a misdirection or surprise or whatever, please enjoy. And they never took a turn after that. Alaska is very heavy and raw sounding. TGM is absolutely fantastic but it came right after colors and was only 6 tracks and may have been a surprise to some. For me it was also like their level-up album. Their one-up album. Their wow they have all been hard at work getting even better at their craft. Holy crap, desert of song is beautiful. Alaska is so heavy. My suggestion? Listen to those albums more and see if it starts to click.
I mean you have to appreciate the rawness of what is Alaska & The Great Misdirect, because it's like humble beginnings that leads to the albums you obsess over, plus they are their own era of BTBAM and show their growth. The Great Misdirect does deserve some sort of credit, maybe you have to look at the fact that album came out in 2009 & also had Jamie King as a producer which honestly, if you look at his track record of albums he's produced, it has some notable songs, like Obfuscation, Fossil Genera: A Feed from Cloud Mountain & Swim to the Moon. It's the same with Alaska, this is right when they brought Dustie on as a member after their self titled album & Silent Circus...you kinda just have to take those as growth and evolving. Can't lie and say that Alaska, Croakies & Boat Shoes & Silkies: The Endless Obsession aren't good but again that was in 2005 too.
Maybe this will help...BTBAM has had an epic time for the type of band they are either way.
Alaska was my intro to BTBAM and Selkies is one of my all-time favorite songs. However, Colors is when they really sank their teeth into me and I've been hooked ever since.
Selkies made me a BTBAM fan
*edit: a letter. I didn’t mean “selfies,” auto-correct!
SELF TITLED. That is all
Seriously some raw and excellent music
You’re probably overthinking it, there probably isn’t a reason beside you just don’t like the songs. You don’t have to like everything. If it hasn’t clicked give them a try some random time down the road with a fresh outlook.
Also, Alaska isn’t very similar to the rest of the discography. It’s heavy and is the first album with Blake and Dustie coming over from Glass Casket (Dan joining up too), which I think has a lot of influences in that album.
TGM is cumshots in my ear
TGM is my favorite album. It's the most mature cohesive album. From start to finish it is a damn masterpiece.
TGM is top 2 for me. So good.
Alaska is the album that got me into them, Swim to the Moon is the song that made them my favorite band.
Alaska the first album I heard from them back in 2007 and it hooked me for life. I was a teenager and loved the heavy style. It's still very proggy, but they had more metalcore and deathcore origins. I heard colors shortly after and those two would be my long time favorites. I was never super fond of TGM until the released the remaster, and now I freaking love it. Love Colors II and parallax as well. Hard to pick a favorite. Alaska will always be a desert island album for me though.
Alaska was the one before colors, so it’s a collection of songs, rather than a cohesive story. Also, it does call back to their more brutal work from self titled and silent circus. As for misdirect, it was coming off colors (which was and is their magnum opus). It felt like it had moments, but tried to usurp colors in terms of proggy-ness. It seems lost and meanders way too much.
Medicine Wheel
TGM is my favorite album
Silent Circus and S/T. Silent Circus was the shit when that dropped. Mark Castillo crushed that bitch. The only thing good about Alaska was that sweep section. Alaska was hard to listen to. Everything after that has been impossible. I watched them for a few songs on their tour with the Acacia Strain, and I couldn’t take it. I hadn’t seen them since they were touring on Silent Circus, but those shows were off the chain. RIP.
The Great Misdirect is amazing, give it another try!
Great Misdirect didn’t do much for me either. Don’t get me wrong I played the shit out of it when it dropped but something about the production and song structures just didn’t grab me like pretty much all their other albums do post colors era.
TGM is a great album, if it came out before Colors, it would have a different perception in my opinion. Colors was the game changer for the band, and genre, so I think anything following that album was always going to be scrutinized pretty hard.
Similarly with Colors II. Mega album, but now there's that nostalgia around Colors and a significant body of work that followed.
Alaska is quite hit or miss and was a weird time between old lineup and the lineup that made the next 8+ albums.
The Great Misdirect is dark/heavy/weird.
I can see the songs being hard to digest, but is a great album. Disease, Injury, Madness might be my favorite BTBAM song
Alaska>Colors>TGM is the peak of BTBAM IMO (with Parallax 1 as the cherry on top). I'm not even sure why I love Alaska as much as I do since it's probably their last album where you could say that metalcore is definitively the "primary" genre, but they haven't had the same energy since. Not sure what you're missing on those 3, but it fairly well describes their transition super well and super smoothly.
No clue why anyone would downvote this for praising BTBAM.
I think those are albums you have to hear live to get that “ohhh I get it now” moment. While they are good in studio, they are about five times better live.
I have been listening since 06, and I never really gave Misdirect a fair shot until this month. shit happens. you dont have to love everything instantly!
Alaska is okay. There are some high points for sure. I have two BTBAM playlists, one with Alaska, and one without.
Misdirect is incredible. There are some really cool connections to Parallax, and the rest of the BTBAM universe in this album. Fossil Genera specifically is from the perspective of the Night Owls, who are a huge part in the Parallax and Parallax II stories. Not to mention the album is written incredibly well.
crazy cause for me, btbam is my fave band i still do not enjoy colors. legit prefer their self titled. great misdirect and parallax 2 are my fave albums. it’s dope you love coma though, i feel like people kinda don’t think about that one much! if you ever get to see them live and they play Fossil Genera you may have more feelings about TGM ;)
Cries in self-titled and TSC
TGM for me is more of a mood album. It’s one of those albums that I have to sit down and listen to all the way through cause each song flows perfectly into the next.
The Great Misdirect was my first love. I played it on repeat for about a year. At the time, I lived in a small suburban town and could walk safely at night while listening to TGM with my earbuds. I would lay in the grass and stare at the stars and it was like I was in a trance. That was nearly 14 years ago. I haven’t listened to it in a few years but it will always have a place in my heart and soul.
honestly, I didn't even realize they had released parallax or parallax 2 at first, and had zero idea anything had been released past that.
the promotion is non existent, and I was OBSESSED with Colors.
didn't even know colors 2 was released, and haven't listened through.
idk what happened, but they just ... disappeared on my promotions
I was not a fan of GMD at all until their tour where they played it live. Hooked ever since, might be one of my favs.
They're not as good