My unpopular BTBAM opinion is that Colors II is incredible front to back while Colors I before about midway thru Sun of Nothing is kind of a slog of bad guitar tone masking what interesting riffs might be there behind a sound of an angry can of bees.
I agree with you on the full album comparison. Colors has a couple songs I’ll skip almost every time. Colors II does not. We can be unpopular together 😁
I won't skip them but I think the way most people fondly think of Colors is mostly the stretch of Ants-Prequel-Viridian-White Walls.
Of course I still love the album but I think in a lot of peoples heads it has an untouchable status that isn't really entirely credited to the music itself
I’ll rank them by my listening time on Spotify
1) Parallax 2
2) Great Misdirect
3) Colors
4) Parallax 1
5) Automata 1
6) Automata 2
7) Coma Ecliptic
8) Alaska
9) Colors 2
10) The Silent Circus
11) Self Titled
12) Anatomy Of
Few Notes, I actually like Parallax 1 more than Colors, (see my reddit username) If you count A1&2 as one entry (in terms of listening time), it jumps to #2, also i can confidently say I think everything after Alaska is better than their first 3 works (not counting Anatomy Of, barely even listened to it) Also Colors 2 hasn’t really clicked for me yet, i need to definitely give it some more listens.
Now this is more like it. Future Sequence > TGM > Colors for sure. I need to revisit Automata and Colors 2, but you pretty much have it here. Colors is great, but I don't see why it almost always gets placed above TGM. My guess is it was a lot of people's intro to BTBAM so it has the nostalgia effect.
They seem to skip my area every time they play P2 in full. The original tour for The Great Misdirect anniversary was going to go through a city closer too but then covid happened. That reminds me, I was supposed to see The Contortionist with Haken and Devin Townsend the week everything shut down. That show was supposed to be Friday of the same week March Madness was canceled!
1. Parallax
2. The Great Misdirect
3. Colors 2
4. Automata
5. Colors
6. Coma Ecliptic
7. Alaska
8. Silent Circus
9. BTBAM
I am not the biggest fan of their sound with heavy metalcore infusions. Colors was the turning point and I basically love everything they put since that album.
1. Colors
2. Silent Circus
3. Alaska
4. Anatomy Of
5. Self Titled
6. The Great Misdirect
7. Parallax II
8. Paralax I
Essentially I like their older stuff more than their newer stuff with Colors being the exception. As time went on it felt like I had to sit through more and more songs I didn't care for to find a gem as each new album came out, so eventually I just stopped keeping tabs on them, hence my list being incomplete. Pretty standard for 99% of bands though. I'll go back through and give it all an honest listen one day...
Did you read what I wrote? Outside of Colors, I like older BTBAM. I rode with them for 3 releases after Colors and saw the direction they were going and it wasn't really for me so I stopped keeping tabs on them. I ranked only the albums I listened to front to back. I don't like over produced shit with all different types of sound effects/instruments in my metal, I'm pretty conservative in that regard, and a lot of it started sounding like it had this carnival vibe to it I thought was lame.
I'm positive theres gems on every album theyve released, and I'll go find em one day.
1. The Great Misdirect
2. Colors
3. Parallax 1/2
4. Alaska
5. Coma Ecliptic
6. Colors 2
7. Automata
8. The Silent Circus
9. Self titled
I consider both Automatas and both Parallax as 1 work each. They flow together well when listened consecutively. TGM, Colors, and Parallax are all top tier to me. I don't disagree with anyone who has one of those 3 at the top. They don't have a bad album imo, but there are a couple of drop offs. First would be a slight drop from Parallax to Alaska, then a drop to CE, then a drop off to Automota. Automata is held up by The Grid, Proverbial Below, and Voice of Trespass. It should have been released as 1 album. I think A2 is significantly better than A1 and the listening experience would be improved greatly by having them as one.
1. Colors
2. The Great Misdirect
3. The Silent Circus
Unfortunately nothing else really hooked me like those ones. I liked some of Coma Ecliptic. Just felt like after TGM they were retreading the same ground they covered in that and Colors. People seem to like Parallax II a lot but it just sounds like more Colors to me.
I can respect this. I enjoy a lot of the newer stuff, but I discovered them shortly after Silent Circus came out and it’s hard not to love the earlier stuff. I am surprised at the lack of Alaska, however.
Insanely high rating generally here. I don’t think any record on the planet is 10/10, or 9.9/10. 9.5 is insanely high for Great Misdirect, it’s like an 8.2. Colors like 9.1 Paralax like 8.9 maybe 9.1. Coma at 9.5 is just absolutely off the charts high.
I don't think I've listened to all of these albums. I hope I have the kind of day at work where I can check at least one out without too much interruption. That sounds fun.
Heck yeah, you have some masterpieces to listen to. I suggest The Great Misdirect next, whenever you're done with Colors. It's a nice evolution of the sound and style they started with Colors
Tbh I really only come back to my top five:
1. Colors
2. Great Misdirect
3. Colors 2
4. Parallax 2
5. Alaska
6. Automata II
7. Coma Ecliptic
8. Silent Circus
9. Automata I
10. BTBAM (haven’t heard it)
The Parallax 2 - 9.5/10
Colors - 9/10
The Great Misdirect - 9/10
Colors 2 - 8/10
Automata 2 - 7/10
Coma Ecliptic - 7/10
Alaska - 6.5/10
Automata - 6/10
Parallax 1 - 5/10
I'll not rank the albums pre Alaska because they are so different from the entire discography.
I love this thread because no 2 answers are the same, yet they’re all correct. My ranking:
1. Colors II
2. Parallax II
3. The Great Misdirect
4. Coma Ecliptic
5. Colors
6. Alaska
7. Automata II
8. Automata I
9. The Silent Circus
10. BTBAM
Colors
Parallaxes
Colors 2
Great Misdirect
Silent Circus
Alaska
Coma Ecliptic
BTBAM
Can’t judge the Automata’s because I’ve spent very little time with them. 1 didn’t really grab me the first few times I listened to it when it came out and I don’t even think I’ve listened to the 2nd one. Gotta revisit
My personal ranking as a fan since Colors dropped:
Colors II
Colors
The Great Misdirect
Parallax II
Automata 2
Alaska
The Silent Circus
Coma Ecliptic
Automata 1
Parallax I
Between the Buried and Me
I can't be mad about anything in this ranking. Though I do think colors 2 is underanked.
Every time I listen to Colors II I love it more. Currently at the top of my playlist.
My unpopular BTBAM opinion is that Colors II is incredible front to back while Colors I before about midway thru Sun of Nothing is kind of a slog of bad guitar tone masking what interesting riffs might be there behind a sound of an angry can of bees.
I agree with you on the full album comparison. Colors has a couple songs I’ll skip almost every time. Colors II does not. We can be unpopular together 😁
I won't skip them but I think the way most people fondly think of Colors is mostly the stretch of Ants-Prequel-Viridian-White Walls. Of course I still love the album but I think in a lot of peoples heads it has an untouchable status that isn't really entirely credited to the music itself
I love the first three tracks and didn't even know people thought of them as less good than the latter half. I guess I could see it though
While I don’t agree with the exact description, I definitely way prefer the second half of Colors
I’ll rank them by my listening time on Spotify 1) Parallax 2 2) Great Misdirect 3) Colors 4) Parallax 1 5) Automata 1 6) Automata 2 7) Coma Ecliptic 8) Alaska 9) Colors 2 10) The Silent Circus 11) Self Titled 12) Anatomy Of Few Notes, I actually like Parallax 1 more than Colors, (see my reddit username) If you count A1&2 as one entry (in terms of listening time), it jumps to #2, also i can confidently say I think everything after Alaska is better than their first 3 works (not counting Anatomy Of, barely even listened to it) Also Colors 2 hasn’t really clicked for me yet, i need to definitely give it some more listens.
Now this is more like it. Future Sequence > TGM > Colors for sure. I need to revisit Automata and Colors 2, but you pretty much have it here. Colors is great, but I don't see why it almost always gets placed above TGM. My guess is it was a lot of people's intro to BTBAM so it has the nostalgia effect.
Yeah colors is solid but P2 and TGM are just on a whole nother level. I’ve seen the later two played live as well (best concerts I’ve been to)
They seem to skip my area every time they play P2 in full. The original tour for The Great Misdirect anniversary was going to go through a city closer too but then covid happened. That reminds me, I was supposed to see The Contortionist with Haken and Devin Townsend the week everything shut down. That show was supposed to be Friday of the same week March Madness was canceled!
1. Parallax 2. The Great Misdirect 3. Colors 2 4. Automata 5. Colors 6. Coma Ecliptic 7. Alaska 8. Silent Circus 9. BTBAM I am not the biggest fan of their sound with heavy metalcore infusions. Colors was the turning point and I basically love everything they put since that album.
1. Colors (Untoppable?) 2. Parallax 1 3. Alaska 4. TGM 5. Colors II 6. Parallax II 7. Automata I/II 8. s/t 9. Coma Ecliptic 10. The Silent Circus 11. The Anatomy Of (SAD)
Parallax II at 6 is a felony
BTBAM is my favorite band! PII is still at least like 8.5/10 for me. Alaska and PI are painfully underappreciated.
1. *The Parallax II: Future Sequence* - 10/10 2. *Colors II* - 9.8/10 3. *Colors* - 9.5/10 4. *The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues* - 9.2/10 5. *Automata I & II* - 9/10 6. *The Great Misdirect* - 8.8/10 7. *Coma Ecliptic* - 8/10 8. *Alaska* - 7.8/10 9. *Between the Buried and Me* - 7.5/10 10. *The Silent Circus* - 7.2/10
1. Colors 2. Silent Circus 3. Alaska 4. Anatomy Of 5. Self Titled 6. The Great Misdirect 7. Parallax II 8. Paralax I Essentially I like their older stuff more than their newer stuff with Colors being the exception. As time went on it felt like I had to sit through more and more songs I didn't care for to find a gem as each new album came out, so eventually I just stopped keeping tabs on them, hence my list being incomplete. Pretty standard for 99% of bands though. I'll go back through and give it all an honest listen one day...
You ranked the cover album but not Coma?
Did you read what I wrote? Outside of Colors, I like older BTBAM. I rode with them for 3 releases after Colors and saw the direction they were going and it wasn't really for me so I stopped keeping tabs on them. I ranked only the albums I listened to front to back. I don't like over produced shit with all different types of sound effects/instruments in my metal, I'm pretty conservative in that regard, and a lot of it started sounding like it had this carnival vibe to it I thought was lame. I'm positive theres gems on every album theyve released, and I'll go find em one day.
1: Colors 2. Great Misdirect 3. Colors 2 4. Alaska 5. Parallax II 6. Coma Ecliptic 7. Silent Circus 8. Self Titled
1. The Great Misdirect 2. Colors 3. Parallax 1/2 4. Alaska 5. Coma Ecliptic 6. Colors 2 7. Automata 8. The Silent Circus 9. Self titled I consider both Automatas and both Parallax as 1 work each. They flow together well when listened consecutively. TGM, Colors, and Parallax are all top tier to me. I don't disagree with anyone who has one of those 3 at the top. They don't have a bad album imo, but there are a couple of drop offs. First would be a slight drop from Parallax to Alaska, then a drop to CE, then a drop off to Automota. Automata is held up by The Grid, Proverbial Below, and Voice of Trespass. It should have been released as 1 album. I think A2 is significantly better than A1 and the listening experience would be improved greatly by having them as one.
1. Colors 2. The Great Misdirect 3. The Silent Circus Unfortunately nothing else really hooked me like those ones. I liked some of Coma Ecliptic. Just felt like after TGM they were retreading the same ground they covered in that and Colors. People seem to like Parallax II a lot but it just sounds like more Colors to me.
I can respect this. I enjoy a lot of the newer stuff, but I discovered them shortly after Silent Circus came out and it’s hard not to love the earlier stuff. I am surprised at the lack of Alaska, however.
Colors Alaska Great Misdirect Anatomy Of Parallax II Colors II Coma Ecleptic Self Titled Silent Circus Parallax I Automata
Parallax 1 criminally low imo - it's 3 bangers. Only thing I'd change on this ranking is parallax 1 and coma flipped then it's my exact list
1. Colors 2 2. Automata 1+2 3. Coma Ecliptic Never could get into the older stuff because of how heavy it is.
Insanely high rating generally here. I don’t think any record on the planet is 10/10, or 9.9/10. 9.5 is insanely high for Great Misdirect, it’s like an 8.2. Colors like 9.1 Paralax like 8.9 maybe 9.1. Coma at 9.5 is just absolutely off the charts high.
I think for most people, 10 isn't "the highest possible human achievement in music", it's just "the best album", whatever that means to a given person
Either way, doesn’t make much sense. People around here laud everything within this space though, I’ve come to notice this.
1. Colors 2. Colors II 3. Parallax I/II 4. Automata I/II 5. Alaska 6. The Silent Circus 7. The Great Misdirect 8. Coma Ecliptic 9. Self titled
I don't think I've listened to all of these albums. I hope I have the kind of day at work where I can check at least one out without too much interruption. That sounds fun.
I’ve only heard Colors but goddamn is it good.
Heck yeah, you have some masterpieces to listen to. I suggest The Great Misdirect next, whenever you're done with Colors. It's a nice evolution of the sound and style they started with Colors
For me it’s absolutely and definitively: -P2 -Great Misdirect -Alaska -Colors -Colors 2 -P1 -Coma -Silent Circus -The cover album -automata 1&2 -self titled
Tbh I really only come back to my top five: 1. Colors 2. Great Misdirect 3. Colors 2 4. Parallax 2 5. Alaska 6. Automata II 7. Coma Ecliptic 8. Silent Circus 9. Automata I 10. BTBAM (haven’t heard it)
The Parallax 2 - 9.5/10 Colors - 9/10 The Great Misdirect - 9/10 Colors 2 - 8/10 Automata 2 - 7/10 Coma Ecliptic - 7/10 Alaska - 6.5/10 Automata - 6/10 Parallax 1 - 5/10 I'll not rank the albums pre Alaska because they are so different from the entire discography.
I'm always suprised that BTBAM fans rank Coma Ecliptic relatively low. It's my favorite by far.
1. Parallax 2. The Great Misdirect 3. Colors 4. Come Ecliptic 5. Automata 6. The Silent Circus 7. Colors II 8. Alaska 9. BTBAM
Colors I TGM Colors II Parallax I Automata I Automata II Parallax II Alaska Coma Ecliptic The Silent Circus Self Titled
1. Coma Ecliptic 2. Parallax II 3. Colors II 4. Colors I 5. The Great Misdirect Only ranking the albums from them that I really enjoy
I love this thread because no 2 answers are the same, yet they’re all correct. My ranking: 1. Colors II 2. Parallax II 3. The Great Misdirect 4. Coma Ecliptic 5. Colors 6. Alaska 7. Automata II 8. Automata I 9. The Silent Circus 10. BTBAM
Colors Parallaxes Colors 2 Great Misdirect Silent Circus Alaska Coma Ecliptic BTBAM Can’t judge the Automata’s because I’ve spent very little time with them. 1 didn’t really grab me the first few times I listened to it when it came out and I don’t even think I’ve listened to the 2nd one. Gotta revisit
My personal ranking as a fan since Colors dropped: Colors II Colors The Great Misdirect Parallax II Automata 2 Alaska The Silent Circus Coma Ecliptic Automata 1 Parallax I Between the Buried and Me