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CRITIC REVIEWS
90
Automata I is an outstanding achievement within Between The Buried And Me's discography.
80
Despite feeling a bit too unsurprising and safe—not to mention brief—to really rival its masterful precursors, Automata I is still a knockout effort that proves once again why Between the Buried and Me is the superlative act of their particular style.
80
Automata I cherry-picks from some of the best elements of previous Between the Buried and Me records, while injecting their masterful sense of musicianship and structure.
80
Time and time again, Between the Buried and Me have proven that they are metal royalty. Automata – Part I is another amazing addition to the treasures of the crown. I can’t wait for Part II.
80
Automata I is a record that delights rather than shocks for the most part, the band cherrypicking all of the strongest nuances from the vast buffet of their back catalogue and organising them into a coherent whole. But familiarity isn’t a problem when the consistency levels are this high.
70
Automata I is excellent on its own; its writing, production, and performances are all top flight. Additionally, it whets the appetite of anticipation for part two.
58
Crooned and barked in cryptic fragments, the album’s Rush-worthy narrative concerns projecting dreams like movies, but the songs themselves lack the what’s-next unpredictability of a wandering subconscious—a quality all over 2007’s crazy-quilt classic Colors. Maybe Automata II will knock BTBAM back off the rails, where the band belongs.
Starts off pretty weak, but it slowly progresses into a more interesting combination of sounds, adding subtle electronic elements to their main formula. My main issue with this project is the screaming vocals, which I'm not a big fan of how they sound here, however they aren't present throughout the entirety of each track.
Albums that feel like one half of a whole project sometimes work, but I think this one suffers from not being one whole album. It's good, but it feels like a weaker effort in what would otherwise be a strong discography.
If Coma Ecliptic was the unsafe album in their catalogue, then the Automata double album is absolutely the safe project at this point in their career.
That does not mean it's a bad thing however because I'm quite fond of these records.
Most of this just feels like BTBAM by the numbers. It has everything you'd expect from one their records. Just not a whole lot of what you don't expect. It's also much shorter than their usual album at just around 35 minutes. I don't think this will stand as a ... read more
Part one of what should have just been a full album. It gets things off to a great start, though I admittedly don't like Condemned to the Gallows as much as most others. This thing goes by quick and smooth and has the unmitigated gall to end on a cliffhanger. The wait for A2 was near unbearable.
So after their release of the mixed but good album Coma Ecliptic, the band wanted to push themselves to a new direction. This time they decide to ditch the long album lengths and instead make a split concept album, much like The Parallax. Unlike The Parallax, these two parts will be released four months apart, to most likely boost more sales and streams. These two albums seem to be rather forgotten about, heck I think their first album and Parallax I are more talked about. I can definitely see ... read more
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Track List
| 1 | Condemned to the Gallows 6:35 | 88 |
| 2 | House Organ 3:41 | 87 |
| 3 | Yellow Eyes 8:45 | 89 |
| 4 | Millions 4:44 | 88 |
| 5 | Gold Distance 1:02 | 72 |
| 6 | Blot 10:27 | 93 |
Total Length: 35 minutes
Year End Lists
| #6 | / | Metal Injection |
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Added on: January 17, 2018