Between The Buried And Me (and Glass Casket) drummer Blake Richardson chooses Six Songs To Die With.
We have neither the budget nor the imagination of BBC Radio, so we've borrowed from their Desert Island Discs program to bring you our own scaled down version, dubbed Six Songs To Die With. We ask a noteworthy musical guest to select the six songs they'd be stranded with on an obligatory desert island. Hypothetically, said guest will be dying on this island, so they've been advised to choose wisely. Selections appear in no particular order.
Few bands in our so-called scene command as much respect as Between The Buried And Me. This talented group of musician can shift between technical death metal, progressive rock, and experimental metal without breaking a sweat, all while remaining one of indie metal's top-selling artists. We'd be remiss if at least one member of BTBAM didn't participate in this feature series. Consequently, we reached out to drummer Blake Richardson, who kindly delivered.
Blake Richardson: First off, I want to state that these aren't necessarily my six favorite songs of all time or anything. It would be virtually impossible for me to try and narrow my favorite songs down to a single digit number! I am approaching this in somewhat of a literal sense. I imagine that, if I am dying by slowly wasting away on a deserted island, these would be some really really good tracks to go with. Also, there is a particular order in which I would like to listen to these tracks as I slowly slip into the sweet release of death, so here it goes...
Meshuggah
"Corridor of Chameleons"
Blake Richardson: Let's just start off with some serious raging. Meshuggah has definitely established themselves as being one of the metal greats. Now, even though I would probably label Destroy Erase Improve as my favorite record of theirs, this song hits harder than a sledgehammer swing from Ronnie Coleman. It has, without a doubt, one of the greatest breakdowns of all time (see 2:24). Those of you who know this track know what I'm talking about. It is an inarguable fact. Being a fan of metal and all things heavy, I have to pick at least one heavy track to go with. Why not take one from one of the heaviest bands ever?
Pain of Salvation
"Iter Impius."
Blake Richardson: Now let's start our transition out of the heaviness and start getting a little emotional. I mean, death IS pretty much one of the most emotional experiences a person has, so I would like to accompany it with probably one of the most powerful choruses I've ever heard! Pain of Salvation is one of the more interesting prog rock bands that are kicking it today. Every time they put out a new record, you truly have no clue what you are going to get, but somehow it always ends up being so awesome that I have it on repeat on my iPod for weeks on end. The "BE" live dvd got me sold on this band for sure. This track is somewhat of a climax of the record, conceptually and musically, and has such an epic and catchy chorus. It's just a great song that has always stood out amongst their discography.
Clint Mansell
"Stay with Me"
Blake Richardson: One of my favorite films. One of my favorite soundtracks. Clint Mansell is one of the best composers out there right now. He is one of those film scorers that if a movie comes out that I'm not even particularly interested in seeing, but he is scoring it, I have to check it out. I've always been interested film scoring and composing. The way the instrumentation is used to reflect moods and emotion on film is very fascinating to me. Clint Mansell is a pro at this. For example, when this theme first arrives in the film, you automatically get that feeling of attachment and unwillingness to leave things behind, much like how one might feel if he or she were about to die on a shitty deserted island. But then again, if the island sucks, then you would probably want to leave. Hopefully the island is not THAT shitty. As long as there a couple palm trees and some coconuts, I can deal with it.
Gustavo Santaolalla
"Endless Flight"
Blake Richardson: My brother actually introduced me to this song. He had recently come back from a trip in Japan and wanted to make a little compilation of the things he had filmed while he was there. He decided to use this song as its "score". You can actually view the video
here. This is one of those songs that can be listened to in ANY setting of relaxation. I'm pretty sure it's on my "go to sleep" playlist that I have on my iPod for tour. It's just a great track to wind down to at the end of the day. It is intentionally placed here as not only being a great song itself but also as a transition.
Hans Zimmer
"Time"
Blake Richardson: What can I say? I'm a sucker for soundtracks. Who better to include in this list than one of the best film composers of our time?... The ZIMM! Now even if you didn't particularly care for Inception, I think it is agreeable across the board that the soundtrack for this movie is timeless. It complements the movie in such a way that I feel it wouldn't have as much critical acclaim if it weren't for Zimmer's sublime use of elegant, epic, and powerful themes. Not only that, it's the simplicity of Zimmer's scores that I particularly enjoy. I mean, the theme for Batman in the Christopher Nolan films is pretty much two notes! Anyways, this specific track comes at the end of the film and fulfills the superb task of relaying the feeling of release and completion of a long and emotional journey, much like life itself! It also conveys a a feeling of readiness and acceptance, which I believe is a perfect compliment to one's transition from life to death.
Queen
"Bohemian Rhapsody"
Blake Richardson: Well If I'm gonna out, I'm gonna go out with arguably one of the best songs ever written. I know it seems typical to put this song in any sort of "top songs" list but you can't deny how powerful and moving this track really is. I'm sort of fortunate that I was turned onto Queen at an early age. I think that must have been what sparked my interest in more eclectic and progressive musical genres back in the day. But no matter what your musical preference is, EVERYONE knows Bohemian Rhapsody. It's one of the few songs out there that is absolutely timeless. We have actually been covering part of it on this recent tour in Europe and it really proves how far it has reached. No matter what country we play... Germany, Italy, Belgium, Sweden ... the crowd always flips out when we play it. There is a reason for that. It's just a legendary song. ...annnnnnnnd then.... I die. G'bye.
