Between The Buried And Me’s Dan Briggs says latest album Coma Ecliptic was partly inspired by frontman Tommy Rogers’ desire to move away from screaming vocals.

And the bassist is comfortable with the resulting work being referred to as a “rock opera.”

Coma Ecliptic, released last week, tells the story of a patient in a coma who travels through his past lives. The band say: “He’s offered a choice – stay, or move to the next in search of something more ‘perfect.’”

Briggs tells Prog Sphere: “Tommy had talked about how he wished he didn’t have to scream so much. On a given night he just wasn’t feeling angry, or he was trying to get himself into that mindspace.

“His voice has come a long way since the early albums. That was an interesting catalyst to have in the back of our heads – focusing on the melody. It helps tell the stories.”

He continues: “A rock opera is really not much different than a concept album,” he says. “It’s the telling of a story through music, and that’s what we did.

“I was listening to a lot of great rock operas – The Wall, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Operation: Mindcrime, Quadrophenia, as well as other musicals. We tried to elevate ourselves to something new.”

And Briggs hopes BTBAM continue in that direction. “We don’t want to get complacent and write the same stuff over and over again. That’s when bands get boring. That’s what happened with a lot of the bands we love.

“‘Predictable’ is not a part of our vocabulary. This album is different from Parallax and the next album is going to be different from this one. That’s two or three years away. We’re celebrating what we did right now, and we love it.”

BTBAM return to the UK in September.

Between The Buried And Me: The Dream Within A Dream