|
 Lost
in the Sound of Separation, the follow-up to Underoath's
2006 outing, Define the Great Line is a solid album full of
chilling melody and nihilistic soundscapes.
Not that you’d think so if first impressions alone were all you had to
go off.
Opening up with the aptly-titled Breathing in a New Mentality,
the intro of which sounds for all the world like something Metallica
drummer, Lars Ulrich, left on the cutting room floor following the
recording of ‘St. Anger’, Underoath eventually explode into their own
with guttural, demonic vocals raging over tumultuous riffs and
antagonising rhythms which fill every inch of their own musical
landscape.
Nowhere is this more apparent than on Anyone Can Dig a Hole but it
Takes a Man to Call it Home , a track a rather unnecessarily long
title, but which comes to the fore with thick, elastic bass and an
additional nasal vocal piercing the skin of those aforementioned feral
screams and claims its place as an early highlight.
From there, things only serve to get faster, more ferocious and
certainly more chaotic, evidenced in the likes of The Only Survivor
Was Miraculously Unharmed, with its underlying sense of a sturdy
rhythm overshadowed by wayward guitars which stumble and shatter into
every orifice, and The Created Void, with its calm, throbbing
intro being torn apart by knife-like licks and a rapidly-approaching air
of despair.
The more we think about it, ‘Lost in the Sound of Separation’ actually
becomes quite a fitting moniker for the Christian rockers sixth LP, as
one chunk of spiralling madness slams unceremoniously into another
without warning or regard.
To some extents, this could be considered a major flaw. With one many
songs on the album almost indistinguishable from each other, you start
to wonder why Underoath even bothered writing so many.
At least, you do until this screeching, scathing album reaches its apex
with the stand-out track, Too Bright to See, Too Loud to Hear.
Making a complete 180-degree turn from the chaos of previous tracks,
Too Bright.. is a melodic, uplifting anthem which rattles along at a
slower-pace than its predecessors towards a rousing, sing-a-long finale
full of vitality and enthusiasm and saves this album from drowning in a
sea of similarity.
An altogether strong effort then, but probably not Underoath’s finest
hour.
• ‘Lost in the Sound of Separation’ from Underoath is out now through
Solid State Records.
In a nutshell: Ferocious metalcore madness from Florida’s
finest.
You Might Like This if you Enjoy: Saosin, Alexisonfire, The
Almost
Recommended links:
►
www.underoath777.com
►
www.myspace.com/underoath
►
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