Colors: Live

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Victory Records progressive metallers Between the Buried and Me upped the stakes with their 2007 album, Colors, combining elements from an ever-widening net of influences that includes not just core elements of death metal and hardcore punk but sunshine pop harmonies, earnest rock balladry, and even polka music. Yet their most diverse album was also characterized by the sort of giddiness that can sometimes engulf endlessly creative and skillful musicians -- the temptation to shoehorn more and more elements into the music without due regard for the full development of those ideas. Colors Live is, for all intents and purposes, Colors transposed to the live setting. The crowd is either quiet and respectful or, more likely, passed over for the pristine audio quality of the soundboard. Colors Live could just about pass for a D.I.Y. studio recording; as it happens, it's a testament to Between the Buried and Me's musicianship that they've managed to replicate so much of the original recording with precision, adding only minor improvisations. On the accompanying DVD, the bandmembers' intense concentration (justified given the quality of the music) means they have little to add to the show as a visual spectacle, and the camera work focuses largely on the guitarists. ~ Dave Donnelly, Rovi