1. Breathing In A New Mentality
2. Anyone Can Dig A Hole But It Takes A Real Man To Call It Home
3. A Fault Line, A Fault Of Mine
4. Emergency Broadcast The End Is Near
5. The Only Survivor Was Miraculously Unharmed*
6. We Are The Involuntary
7. The Created Void
8. Coming Down Is Calming Down
9. Desperate Times Desperate Measures
10. Too Bright To See Too Loud To Hear*
11. Desolate Earth The End Is Here
Well i picked up the new Underoath on wed and have been listening to it ever since. unfortunately this new series for the blog will be useless to you if you cant wait at least a week after an album comes out to buy it if you are waiting for my opinion since i cant actually listen to the album till it comes out! ha ha none the less you most likely wouldnt make your album choices over one mans opinion, especially with music since everyone has a different taste and opinion. that being said the albums i will be reviewing will already be bought by me therefore i most likely will like the album! so if anything else take this as some music education.
Underoath has been making music since 1999 and has just released their sixth studio album. Listening to all six it is obvious that the band continues to improve and show us more and more of there talent as musicians. With the success they had with "They're only chasing safety" its hard not to compare every album after it but since then they have reached new levels and shown that each member strives to be better at what they do!
Overall the album is a bit darker or differnt then all the others. from how they recorded it to the artwork its not a typical Underoath style which excites me to no end. Each member of the band has taken their instrument and pushed themselves to be even better and different/new at what they do. If you were to listen to the album 6 times and focus in on one member each time around you would be amazed at how well each member is playing and how well it all fits together. Timothy McTague's guitar resonates at all the right times giving the album a raw loud sound while James Smith's rhythmic guitar takes it even further for both him and Tim. Along with the loud Underoath sound you need to have the mad bass riffs only Grand Brandell can deliver which gives the album that dark yet pumping sound. One of my favorite members of this band is Christopher Dudley who brings the unique Underoath sound with the keys and synth. Listening to each album its been awesome hearing Chris bring the keys not in a lame techno/old skillet sound but creative fast clean sound. for this album it shows that Chris has worked hard for his parts bringing this album to new levels. Next we have Spencer Chamberlain bringing the scream/vocals. Spence joined the band for "They're only chasing safety" exactly where they started to make some momentum as a band! His ability to bring the scream in a way that doesnt sound like old stretch arm strong but in a way that you can understand words amazes me. it brings both heavy fans (Zao) and not so heavy fans (Emery) together. And last but not least Aaron Gillespie is one of the main reasons why this band is as good as they are, he would be the Matt Thiessen to Relient K or Jon Foreman to Switchfoot. The drumming talent he brings in this album blows me away an anyone who has ever drummed (not that i know much about drums) would agree that Aaron is one of the best. Not only does his drumming rock but i think most of my favorite parts of the album are when he takes the vocals that we love so much from his side project The Almost. Spence and Aaron team up to be an amazing combo for lyrical writing and i always enjoy just reading the lyrics for each and every song! I have always thought it would be awesome to hear them put out this stuff in acoustic form to really show their lyrical abilities! with there ideas for including all six members doing vocals at once for that eerie chant sound and putting the mic at the end of a hall to give it that distanced sound its no doubt that these two work well together. So long as these six stick together i have no doubt that they will continue to make amazing albums.
If you are looking for a good sing along album that Dc Talk and Relient K deliver then this may not be the album for you but if you are searching for good music that shows your ear drums a new meaning of metalcore then look no further! Underoath once again delivers just as i hope they would. What nothing bad you say? well I suppose the only downfall to the album is that its only 41 mins long instead of the 4 disc set they should put out ;) i guess we will just have to listen to it again and again and again!
overall i give this album a 10/10
-bent ;)
