Over time, it seems that metal bands are taking themselves more and more seriously— in a landscape littered with satan worshippers, the loveable antics of Between The Buried And Me are a welcome breath of fresh air. The (now) four-piece are an eccentric lot, continually experimenting with a huge range of sounds and ideas across their vast discography: the group’s newest effort, ‘The Blue Nowhere,’ is no less explosive. This is prog metal at its most eclectic— it might not be the tightest collection of songs out there, but the record’s unbridled energy will surely put a smile on your face regardless.

Though ‘The Blue Nowhere’ does allude to a concept surrounding a mysterious hotel, the group have made it very clear that the record “exists in a world that’s not tied to a storyline. It’s more about a feeling.” Anyone expecting something straightforward (or even understandable) from Between The Buried And Me clearly hasn't been paying attention— the group’s unconventional approach to songwriting remains in full force in 2025, with three of their new tracks surpassing ten minutes in length. The record is a winding series of journal entries, diving deep into introspective themes of ego, existentialism and the inner workings of the mind. It’s a lot to juggle, which may be why ‘The Blue Nowhere’ is so lengthy: these concepts, presented as abstractly as they are, play out over the course of a labyrinthian listen, where every move the band makes is as unpredictable as it is exciting.

Opener ‘Things We Tell Ourselves In The Dark’ may deal in some weighty subject matter, but it’s the way those themes clash against the bright and enthusiastic presentation that really sells the song: if this new Between The Buried And Me project stands out for any reason in particular, it’s for the wildly enjoyable funk elements that crop up across the record. Dan Briggs’ bass plays an essential role, locking us into all manner of groovy rhythms— from the off, ‘The Blue Nowhere’ indulges in all the unconventional note choices and weird time signatures that prog metal fans the world over expect from this band, though that doesn’t stop the music from making you want to dance. It’s often difficult to tell where the songwriting ends and the whimsical japes begin with Between The Buried And Me— here, the two are inseparable, with the country-bumpkin jams of single ‘Absent Thereafter’ and the comically overblown jazz pastiches of ‘Slow Paranoia’ demonstrating just how far outside the box the band are willing to push things.

Much of ‘The Blue Nowhere’ is an undeniably sunny experience, though that hasn’t stopped Between The Buried And Me from continuing to earn their place in the prog metal pantheon: when they want to, Rogers and company can let loose their unique brand of bold (if unconventional) savagery. ‘God Terror’ is unapologetically massive, inviting comparisons ranging between Fear Factory and Deftones: the track’s atmospheric keys lines only serve to lull the listener into a false self of security when more blaring riffs and compressed vocal recordings are always waiting just out of sight. The eleven-minute ‘Psychomanteum’ is similarly bold in places, sprinkling in moments of face-melting aggression among its soaring prog rock solos and unfathomably catchy hooks.

There is, of course, an elephant in the room, hidden amongst the unbridled praise that it’s easy to heap onto ‘The Blue Nowhere:’ Between The Buried And Me are an unusual band, and any listeners unaccustomed to their style of avant-garde prog metal may well find their latest work quite off-putting. Even among fans of the genre, it’s not a stretch to imagine some might be put off by the record’s massive 71-minute runtime— in all honesty, the album did not need to be quite so lengthy. The tracks presented here are devilishly energetic, but do little to escape a certain level of awkwardness: when it comes to the goofy shenanigans of interlude ‘Mirador Uncoil’ or the overly bloated writing of ‘Slow Paranoia,’ we can’t help but feel the album beginning to lose us. For all that ‘The Blue Nowhere’ does right, brevity is not its greatest strength— if the album had lost its weakest five minutes of material, we wouldn’t exactly be mourning.

Even despite that though, there are a startling number of memorable moments that crop up across the record. ‘Things We Tell Ourselves In The Dark’ builds to a devilishly catchy chorus that rounds out the song quite nicely: Between The Buried And Me frequently demonstrate enough restraint to pull this train back onto the track time and time again, even if that track leads to melodies and themes as bizarre as those of ‘Door #3.’ Perhaps the most gratifying moments of the album come towards its conclusion, as 'The Blue Nowhere’ rounds itself out on some particularly sharp and conventional songwriting. The title track is a sweet prog rock exhibition, harkening back to the floating guitar work of something like Joe Satriani’s ‘Flying in a Blue Dream.’ Closer ‘Beautifully Human’ takes that idea and simply runs with it, encapsulating all the best elements of the album: the balance of beauty and scale the group create here is honestly astonishing, handing out one more fantastic hook before the group scurry off again.

‘The Blue Nowhere’ is so dense with fresh ideas that it’s difficult to do anything but scratch the surface in a review like this: it is, after all, an album well in line with what you might expect from Between The Buried And Me. Any prog metal fans who haven’t checked this record out are doing themselves a great disservice, as the sheer brightness and infectiousness the album brings with it are positively enthralling— it may not win too many new fans over, but that’s no mark against the record, which feels as fun as it is complex.