Between the Buried and Me

Between the Buried and Me (often abbreviated BTBAM) is an American progressive metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina, formed in 2000 following the breakup of an earlier project called Prayer for Cleansing. Fronted by vocalist Tommy Rogers, who also contributes keyboards, and guitarist Paul Waggoner, the band became known for a genre-defying style that fuses death metal aggression, progressive rock complexity, jazz-influenced interludes, and melodic clean singing, often within a single song.

The group built its reputation through sprawling, conceptually ambitious albums that reward repeated listening, including breakthrough works like Colors and The Great Misdirect, which showcase abrupt tonal shifts, odd time signatures, and long-form compositions rather than conventional verse-chorus structures. Signature tracks such as «White Walls», «Sun of Nothing», and the Foam Born pieces illustrate the band's willingness to move between brutal breakdowns and expansive, almost cinematic passages within minutes of each other.

Within the progressive and technical metal scene, BTBAM is regarded as one of the genre's most adventurous and influential acts, having released a substantial catalog of studio albums over two decades while maintaining a stable creative core. Their willingness to experiment with unconventional structures and eclectic instrumentation has made them a reference point for other bands working at the intersection of extreme metal and progressive rock.