During the days of my deviously energetic youth, I sought music that complimented my heightened emotions; I searched for music that propelled and alleviated everyday confusions and epiphanies. Along with various other forms of music, the genre of metal has always held a special place in my arsenal of music knowledge. Growing up in South Jersey, I was surrounded by a budding “metalcore” scene. Although most diehard fans of metal tend to dismiss this and other new forms of metal, metalcore introduced to me the vast expansiveness of all areas of metal, and for that I am thankful. If it wasn’t for bands like Converge, Dillinger Escape Plan, and Between the Buried and Me, I most likely wouldn’t be able to appreciate the other forms of metal that I love to this day.

Needless to say, I had many friends who had metal bands, and I was constantly making an effort to attend their live shows. I grew up loving local bands like Memoir, Blue Eyes Burn Like Fire, Behind the Sun, and Bodies in the Gears of the Apparatus. I look fondly on these memories now and am happy that I was introduced to metal through this particular entrance. The bands that have pushed through, have done so by continually creating great works of art in the genre by infusing other aspects of metal with their own. Many people don’t like this shift in style and dismiss it, while others accept the change and follow along. Between the Buried and Me, one of the first bands I was introduced to by one of my good friends Shaun, instantly became one of my favorite bands of all time. They’re an exceptionally talented group of musicians that revel in the ability to create confusion with unpredictability while simultaneously developing a sense of comfort with soothing melodies. A shift occurred in the musical output of the band when they released Colors, their fourth LP and one hell of a milestone in metal.

I remember being one of those who dismissed the change; in fact, I couldn’t get passed their second release The Silent Circus, which is still one of the greatest metal albums ever, for me. But, eventually I grew beyond the distinctions I held and fell deep into the trance created by a band evolving before my ears. Repeated listens were a must in order to solidify a mental picture of the flow of the album. Over and over again I was confronted by the question: What just happened? A certain elegance is constructed and then deconstructed only to be partially reassembled and then completely destroyed. There are harsh and abrasive moments that fluidly flourish and bloom into hypnotically soaring refrains. Colors is an epic album that does not falter in the presence of it’s own greatness; it does not disappoint in the confrontation of expectations created during the listening process. Colors not only reignited the love of my metal roots, but it also shows that the originators of the metalcore scene are still the only one’s who can propel it. Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and Between the Buried and Me are still releasing great albums that challenge preconceptions and doubtful thinking.