Between the Buried and Me
May 23, 2026
The Globe Iron (Cleveland, Ohio)

By Rob McCune

Touring their 13th album in twice as many years, prog-metal band Between the Buried and Me (BTBAM) is taking fans on a journey through a Blue Nowhere via a cataclysmic caravan of soaring cosmic melodies and subterranean scream-core.

As frontman Tommy Rogers describes it, “Blue Nowhere,” the title track, is a metaphor for a hidden, isolated space, detached from reality. But more than a space, it’s an internal confrontation in a desperate search for equilibrium—that seemingly out-of-reach state of mental, emotional and physical balance.

But for a few hours, BTBAM fans saw it and felt it.

A 10-song set for a show at Cleveland’s The Globe Iron leaned heavily on the new record while dipping into the catalogue with selections from five other LPs. For the encore, BTBAM doubled up on 2012’s “The Parallax II,” with the atmospheric opus “Slight Flight Parliament” and a ripping reprise on “Goodbye to Everything.”

The Raleigh, North Carolina-formed band, which took its name from a lyric in a Counting Crows song (“Ghost Train”), doesn’t “jam,” exactly, but digs deep while thrashing out 15-minute tracks with an unrelenting, almost paranormal, energy.

On this leg of their summer tour, BTBAM is backed by Thank You Scientist, a jazz-fusion-prog-rock sensation out of New Jersey with a brass section; and The World Is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid (TWIABP), a post-hardcore group out of Connecticut with a band name so long, even the acronym is abbreviated.

Warming up the crowd first, TWIABP brought an experimental emo vibe that hit like the “Twister” on keyboardist Katie Dvorak’s t-shirt (a throwback to the 1996 original).

For their set, Thank You Scientist and new lead singer Daimon Alexandrius (who joined the band in 2024 after the exit of Salvatore Marrano) teased a new album (which would be their fourth and first since 2019’s “Terraformer”) with a brand new song, “Fire Eater.” Alexandrius seems right at home on stage, and his boisterous vocal adds range to the band’s eclectic sound. The genre-bending rhythms coming out of this cool-nerd band make more sense considering its origins: formed by a guitar player (Tom Monda), saxophonist (Ellis Jasenovic) and trumpet player (Andrew Dingus) raised on Frank Zappa and The Beatles. Thank a scientist that new music is on the way.

Follow Rob McCune on Instagram (@Every_Thing_After_Photo) and listen to the “Every.Thing.After Podcast” on Spoti

Between the Buried and Me (BTBAM) – Website | Facebook | YouTube | TikTok | Instagram | X |