Math, Metal & Mayhem: Delta Sleep, Hail the Sun and BTBAM Shred Nashville

Between the Buried and Me (Cell Photo)IMG_2389 — Between the Buried and Me (Cell Photo)

By Evan Weidl, Rock At Night Nashville

Live Review: Between the Buried and Me, Hail the Sun, and Delta Sleep – Brooklyn Bowl, Nashville, TN – October 29, 2025

On Wednesday, October 29, as the Halloween season reached its peak, a crowd came together at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl to enjoy the mind-bending compositions of Delta Sleep, Hail the Sun, and Between the Buried and Me.

First up was UK math rockers Delta Sleep, who commenced the evening with their colorful, dreamy, and pinpoint accurate sound. While their sound was not as heavy as the subsequent bands of the evening, they managed to carve out their own form of intensity thanks to their technical prowess. The crowd was properly ignited by the performance of Delta Sleep, as a sea of voices joined the band on their set closer, the fan favorite song “The Detail.”

Hail the Sun took the stage next, and they wasted no time blasting the doors off the place. Boasting a scrupulous combination of metalcore, pop punk, and math rock, their music felt like a combination of some of the great rock bands of the 2000’s. Even still, it would be a disservice to say their music was bound to any one style or influence. Their music was strengthened by relentlessly fervent guitar work and vocals that soared like fireworks.

As if that weren’t impressive enough, at one point, lead singer Donovan Melero hopped on the drum kit and still managed to double task with his powerful voice, creating a unique and unforgettable moment in their set. Hail the Sun’s intensity was a tremendous crescendo into the final set of the night.

Finally, Between the Buried and Me took to the stage, and what followed was something that was so complex, ambitious, and sensational, that I almost feel like no words I can come up with will do it justice.

The once-dense crowd blew wide open for a mosh pit as the band opened with their 11-minute bruiser “Disease, Injury, Madness”. Lead singer Tommy Giles Rogers sounded indiscernible from their records as guitarist Paul Waggoner, touring guitarist Tristan Auman, bassist Dan Briggs, and drummer Blake Richardson used their virtuosic skills to create a sound that was both impossible to fully pin down, yet addicting to try to follow.

As the band tore through songs from seven of their albums in their 25-year history, the amount of new musical directions they managed to take in just an hour and 15 minutes was staggering. Piano solos, extensive clean sections, borrowing sounds from almost every genre of popular music-you name it, it probably happened. It felt as if this Between the Buried and Me show was the closest music could ever get to being a game of chess.

Aided by a beautiful stage set and lights show, the metal legends put on what felt like a display of all the things that make metal as a whole great-speed, groove, raw intensity, etc. Managing to condense and balance all that into one discography is a tall task on its own, but into one show? It’s a task that only a band like Between the Buried and Me could pull off.

“I think their albums stretch like an entire symphony in a way where you’ll have different themes coming back in a different way, different sections broken out,” said audience member Evan D., a longtime fan of the band. “It’s not just verse, chorus, verse, verse, that kind of thing. It’s more of a compositional theme all the way through with all their albums.”

Despite the fact that the band’s music is extremely elaborate in nature, there was still something for everyone to latch on to and enjoy. “If you never heard the Between the Buried and Me and you came to a live show, it might be a little bit jarring, but I think you can still kind of see that, and you can still enjoy it and still grab things to resonate with.”

While each band sounds discernibly different in their own ways, especially as it pertains to intensity, one common theme was obvious; each of the bands leaned heavily into technical mastery, each weaving their own web of genres and influences. While it was one of the last shows of a long tour, each band seemed impossibly fresh and energized, and their respective shows were better for it.

All three bands laid out a wonderful kickoff to Halloween weekend, and everyone in the audience that night gained a new perspective on just how wild and ambitious music can always be.