Hard, driving rhythms, complex riffage, odd time signatures, and brutal vocals seem like a constant of death metal or metalcore bands these days, but no one does it quite like Between the Buried and Me, whose mathcore-like playing has earned them spots on many tours and on Victory Records, where they stick out like a sore thumb among all the other emo, post-hardcore crap bands. The starter "All Bodies" has a riff that keeps on moving like a freight train from hell that won't let up until you pull the CD out of the stereo. The most well known songs on this CD are "Alaska", which got some video play, and "Selkies: The Endless Obsession" with its easily recognizable keyboard riff by vocalist Tommy Rogers. As the album moves along, some soft instrumentals are added in like "Breathe In, Breathe Out", "Medicine Wheel", and "Lazer Speed", which are diversions that leave you off guard for the extreme brutality of "Roboturner", "Backwards Marathon", "Autodidact", and "The Primer". Some of the songs are complex, others are short, but all have an air about them that you've just entered the strange world of Alaska. You're not in Kansas anymore.