Automata I

About the album, guitarist Paul Waggoner remarked:[6]

We never want to repeat ourselves. We're always trying to do something different, and this album fell right into that sort of pattern. We push ourselves into new places, while retaining our basic sound. Musically, we go somewhere that's fun and challenging. We never know how it's going to turn out. These are uncharted waters for us. We've never written an entire piece and presented it in separate parts like this.

Automata is a concept album. According to an official press release, the album will revolve around the concept of being able to view the dreams of others, frontman Tommy Rogers commented:[7]

What if dreams could be broadcast for the purpose of entertainment? Could you consume the innermost thoughts of another person on screen? If you could, what does that say about an attention-starved audience? More importantly, what would become of the dreamer?

During an interview with That Drummer Guy, he also added:[8]

The protagonist in the story... his dreams are broadcast over the entire world as a form of entertainment and because of this he is taken advantage of by a company called "Voice of Trespass". It follows one of his dreams where he is searching for a family that he's lost, [...] all those different aspects of the story and deals a lot with his personal well-being, corruption, depression, the audience's perspective on the whole thing, [...] it showcases his life in a way and things that he deals with.

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	70/100[9]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[10]
The A.V. Club	C+[11]
Exclaim!	8/10[12]
Metal Injection	9/10[13]
MetalSucks	[14]
PopMatters	[15]
Team Rock	[16]

Automata I received generally positive reviews from professional critics, noting the band's continued technical proficiency found in their previous albums,[13][16][15][14] while some felt ambivalent of the album's significantly shorter length—drawing comparisons to their 2011 extended play, The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues, which is five minutes shorter—and the band's decision to release Automata in two parts.[15][17] Review aggregator Metacritic scored the album a 70 out of 100 based on five music critics, citing "generally favorable reviews".[9]

The Prog Report praised the album, referring to the song "Blot" as a "song [that] brings all the elements which one would expect—it doesn't disappoint", comparing the track with the sound of bands like Haken and Nova Collective (bassist Dan Briggs being a member of this band). They also add that the song "shines as it has everything BTBAM has to offer at the highest level of musical performance. The ending chorus is epic; but, just when you think a conclusion is due, the abrupt ending reminds us the second part is just a few months away..."[18]

MetalSucks's Phil Boozeman gave the album 4 devil horns claiming "Automata is also a perfect jumping-on spot for new fans, as it winds up being one of the band's easiest-to-digest releases" and that "Musically, BTBAM are already in outer space while every other metal band remains stuck on earth — and yet Automata finds the band somehow continuing to push themselves in new territory". He also added that the song "Blot" "may very well represent BTBAM's strongest work to date".[19]