North Carolina’s Between the Buried and Me is a prog-metal band in the most time-honored sense of the word “prog.” The group does nothing subtly; Why write a simple four-minute song when it could be extended to 10 minutes by throwing in snippets of every musical genre imaginable? (Why yes, that is in fact a country & western hoedown in their popular song “Ants of the Sky.”) This approach has doomed many bands, but Between the Buried’s best songs evoke a sense of epic scope and grandeur while maintaining an element of suspense. —Brandon Wu

Read the full City Lights pick here; deets below the jump.

Between the Buried and Me performs with In Flames
The 9:30 Club
815 V St. NW
(202) 265-0930
6:30 p.m. $25.