Over the past few years, Underoath have walked around the music scene witha huge X on their backs. Seemingly being the poster boys for our generations underground community. Their breakout record They're Only Chasing Safety became the sing songy scream songy anthemic record in which has been used as a blueprint for hundreds of carbon copy bands. 2006's Define The Great Line was supposed to be their opus, and with no pun inteded, their defining record. The record saw a decomposing of the hooky choruses, and a peak at the darkness in which the band gave a sense of.
To me, Define... was just a glimpse of what the band was capable of. While some where hailing them for what was their career record, I just sat back thinking... "there has to be more to this."
In my mind, I was right with the follow up to 2006's acclaimed record, this years Lost in the Sound of Seperation.
Judging by their single that was released quite some time before the actual release, it would seem the band fell into a lull of sorts. Simply reminiscing on what Define... had offered us. Something scary to most bands, especially Underoath, considering they ARE the poster boys.
Instead the album is absolutely everywhere. From beginning to end, the album has an omniscient, and creepy feel to it. With it's technical guitar composition, to the whaling noise in which they have fully invested themselves in.
Songs move along nicely, absolutely unpredictable, and the band has fully embraced, and bridged the gap between their biggest influences in which they have been so vocal about. Bands like Botch, and At the Drive In.
The album's forefront is a narrative on vocalist Spencer Chamberlains public struggle with substance abuse in the past year,and it seems the record starts off in a deep dark hole. Songs barely having any melody, barely any singing, highly bass driven, and minor chords fill tracks 1 through 4. The songs approach the heavier side of Underoath, and are enveloped in the description "DARK SONG".
This seems to be the case all the way up until track 5 "The End is Near". This is the transition track from complete darkness, as after this track it seems the songs get progressively lighter and more melodic, feeling clean vocalist Aaron Gillespie's incredible singing.
The songs from here are incredibly progressive and fast paced, and it isn't until the As Cities Burn esque track "Too Bright to See, Too Loud to Hear" that we realize this is truly a perfect record that has everything. Forget everything you ever knew about Underoath because this is the band that defines progressive music for our generation. If last generation had Zepplin, this generation has Underoath because for once, they have absolutely been the definition of progressing from record to record without repeating themselves. Rarely, if not ever do they replay any sense of what has made them famous. This is truly a perfect record.
FINAL GRADE: A+
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