Tonight - BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME in Minneapolis, SENSES FAIL in Burnsville

The big show tonight comes from progressive, experimental hardcore stars Between The Buried And Me, who will be performing their latest album The Parallax II: Future Sequence in its entirety at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis. The entire bill is impressive, with The Faceless, The Contortionist, and The Safety Fire all appearing. Inexplicably, tickets still remain for $20 at the door. The show starts at 7:00, and it's 16+.

RELATED CONTENT: Review of Mouth Of Swords by The Safety Fire (here), review of Intrinsic by The Contortionist (here), and a concert review of The Contortionist from April 2013 in St. Paul. (here).

Tonight you can also catch hardcore/rock band Senses Fail at The Garage in Burnsville will For The Fallen Dreams, Expire, and Being As An Ocean. This is an all ages show that starts at 6:30, and tickets are $18 at the door.

Album Review - THE SAFETY FIRE

The Safety Fire – Mouth Of Swords

InsideOut, 2013

6/10

I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this one, and fail to quite see how this English band lives up to the hype as the next progressive metal hope. There’s certainly elements of bands like Karnivool and Cynic with more of a hardcore bent with the occasional screaming vocals, but Mouth Of Swords primarily consists of discordant, arpeggio- and scale-based guitar noodling. It’s not in the vein of the old shred-fests you can find on any Shrapnel album from the 80s, so the guitar work isn’t the self-indulgant wanking you might expect. I’ve given this several listens over the last week anticipating that the album would take some to sink in but it just hasn’t happened. The guitar work bores me; there’s a lack of real riffs on which to latch, and the scales just drift by like white noise after a while. There are some interesting moments and song structures to the band’s credit, but not enough to overcome my general feeling of boredom when listening. Boredom is probably a bit harsh, but the album seems here and gone when I listen like background music that neither offensive nor inspiring. Fans of experimental hardcore are more apt to enjoy this; if you think of bands like Dream Theater and Fates Warning as progressive metal then Mouth Of Swords will likely disappoint you.

The Safety Fire performs tonight, Friday, October 11 at The Varsity Theater in Minneapolis as support to Between The Buried And Me, The Faceless, and The Contortionist.

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME Announces Extensive Fall North American Tour, Plays Minneapolis October 11

Progressive, extreme hardcore heavyweights Between The Buried And Me will embark on an ambitious, six-week headlining tour of the U.S. and Canada that starts September 13 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and wraps up October 25 in Nashville, Tennessee. Support on all dates will come from technical death metal band The Faceless, fellow progressive hardcore masters The Contortionist, and English progressive metal band The Safety Fire. Included on the itinerary is a stop in Minneapolis at the Varsity Theater on Friday, October 11; tickets are on sale now through Ticketfly. This show will sell out!

The Contortionist performing April 9, 2013 at Station 4 in St. Paul. Click on the photo to see more live pictures (27).

Between The Buried And Me w/The Faceless, The Contortionist, and The Safety Fire

September 13 – Winston-Salem, NC, Ziggy’s

September 14 – Knoxville, TN, NV

September 15 – Atlanta, GA, The Masquerade

September 16 – Jacksonville, FL, Brewster’s Roc Bar

September 17 – Orlando, FL, The Plaza LIVE

September 19 – Houston, TX, House Of Blues

September 20 – Austin, TX, The Mohawk

September 21 – Dallas, TX, House Of Blues

September 23 – Denver, CO, Summit Music Hall

September 24 – Murray, UT, Murray Theater

September 26 – Mesa, AZ, The Nile

September 27 – Hollywood, CA, House Of Blues

September 28 – San Diego, CA, House Of Blues

September 29 – Santa Ana, CA, The Observatory

September 30 – San Francisco, CA, Regency Ballroom

October 1 – Sacramento, CA, Ace Of Spades

October 3 – Portland, OR, Hawthorne Theatre

October 4 – Seattle, WA, El Corazon

October 5 – Vancouver, BC, Commodore Ballroom

October 7 – Calgary, AB, The Republik

October 8 – Edmonton, AB, The Starlite Room

October 9 – Winnipeg, MB, Garrick Centre

October 11 – Minneapolis, MN, Varsity Theater

October 12 – Chicago, IL, Metro

October 13 – Detroit, MI, Majestic Theatre

October 14 – Louisville, KY, Headliner’s Music Hall

October 16 – New York, NY, Best Buy Theatre

October 17 – Worcester, MA, The Palladium

October 18 – Sayreville, NJ, Starland Ballroom

October 19 – Philadelphia, PA, TLA

October 20 – Cleveland, OH, Peabody’s Downunder

October 21 – Pittsburgh, PA, Mr. Smalls Theatre

October 23 – Baltimore, MD, Sound Stage

October 24 – Asheville, NC, The Orange Peel

October 25 – Nashville, TN, Cannery Ballroom