Underoath is one of the premier acts in the current rock world, yet it has never had a real "hit," or a platinum record. It would follow that the band's so-called "metalcore" sound has never sat well with the general public. Among those with a penchant for the more intense genres, however, the band has generated a massive following. With their newest release, "Lost in the Sound of Separation," the band assures fans that it has no intention of changing its style to reach the mainstream.
Right off the bat, the band makes no attempt to ease newer listeners into the Underoath sound. The first track, "Breathing in a New Mentality," barely has a chorus and immediately begins changing tempos and time signatures with reckless abandon. Drummer and vocalist Aaron Gillespie makes it all seem far too easy. One thing is certainly clear by the end of the three-minute track: This record is going to be heavy.
"Anyone Can Dig a Hole But it Takes a Real Man to Call it Home," the second track, kicks in almost immediately after the end of the first cut, and could even be interpreted as a continuation of the first song. The first softer moments of the album are seen in "Anyone," with Gillespie lending his cleaner vocals to the track to bring some contrast to the harsh sound.
Though a band such as Underoath doesn't care much about singles, the first from the record is "Desperate Times, Desperate Measures." The distinguishing aspect of the song is that it has a discernable chorus, one of the few on the album. Gillespie's singing plays a relatively larger role in the song, making the tune a bit more listenable for those not yet immune to the earthy screams of the hardcore genre.
Arguably the most surprising cut on the album comes in the form of "Too Bright to See Too Loud to Hear," a ballad-esque softer number that is sung almost exclusively by Gillespie, though screamer Spencer Chamberlain lends some spot-on clean vocals. The song disintegrates into a clap-track-driven chant of "Good God/ Can you still get us home?" with marching-band percussion slowly pumping up the adrenaline until the big rock crescendo, which sees some of Gillespie's best vocal work on the album.
Track-by-track dissection aside, the album is a huge step in the right direction for a band that is so easily misunderstood or written off as just another screamo act. Though this may seem like an impossible comparison, listening to an Underoath album — especially anything after their more pop-friendly "They're Only Chasing Safety" (2004) — is much like listening to an exceptionally good jazz artist, say Miles Davis, for example.
While Davis' classic "Birth of the Cool" (1957) certainly has snippets that almost anyone can recognize (take a listen to "Boplicity," it will sound familiar), the album as a whole tends to blend together into one beautifully intricate tapestry of sound. In much the same way, "Lost in the Sound of Separation" is not so much a collection of 11 songs as it is an interweaving of multiple movements and themes. None of the tracks stands incredibly well on its own, but in the context of the album, they each fulfill a specific purpose and together create an explosively potent whole.
In another change of direction, after numerous successful summer stints on the Vans Warped Tour, the band chose to go an alternate route and toured with Disturbed and Slipknot on the Rockstar Mayhem Tour this summer. While this seems like a risky move, the bold sounds of "Separation," make it clear why the band wanted to open its doors to a heavier audience, not to mention one that stands apart from the mass of emo, screamo or whatever else Vans & Co. thinks resonates with young angsty audiences these days. With "Separation," Underoath takes an important step in finding its own unique sound, a sure sign that the band will be a mainstay in their niche market for years to come.
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