Between the Buried and Me have just announced their most ambitious project to date. With a handful of modern prog classics in their discography, BTBAM are going even more epic with a two-part concept album, Automata.

BTBAM’s Parallax I and Parallax II was an EP and studio album project, but the Automata duo will be the band’s first time tackling a conceptual work over two full-lengths. Automata I already has a March 9 release date, with Automata II scheduled to hit in summer 2018. The releases will be Between the Buried and Me’s first with Sumerian Records, who just signed the band after two full-lengths with Metal Blade.

“Every single week music comes and goes. We can get music instantly and with this luxury, the listener has a hard time sitting down with albums and exploring their every twist and turn,” says frontman Tommy Rogers. “Because of this, we have decided to release our new album in two parts. Our music is dense and our albums are very long, so we want to give people two separate moments to dive in this year and explore new music that we’ve put our entire being into. We hope you enjoy the creation as much as we’ve enjoyed the process.”

“All of our music should build up to the newest record,” Tommy leaves off. “That’s what happens with Automata. You can take little snippets from our past throughout this album. It sounds like Between the Buried and Me, but it’s still new. We hope to keep the music industry on its toes. This is part of doing that.”

Guitarist Paul Waggoner adds, “We never want to repeat ourselves. We’re always trying to do something different, and this album fell right into that sort of pattern. We push ourselves into new places, while retaining our basic sound. Musically, we go somewhere that’s fun and challenging. We never know how it’s going to turn out. These are uncharted waters for us. We’ve never written an entire piece and presented it in separate parts like this."

The first piece of BTBAM’s Automata I will come on Jan. 19 in the form of a music video for “Condemned to the Gallows.” Between the Buried and Me have also revealed dates for a U.S. tour with The Dear Hunter and Leprous beginning March 2 in Chicago.

Get ready for BTBAM’s newest grand opus and check out the album art and track listing for Automata I below.

Between the Buried and Me, Automata I Album Art:

Sumerian
Sumerian
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Between the Buried and Me, Automata I Track Listing:

1. Condemned to the Gallows (6:35)
2. House Organ (3:41)
3. Yellow Eyes (8:45)
4. Millions (4:43)
5. Gold Distance (1:02)
6. Blot (10:27)

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