Underoath fans had been in question for a while as to what was going to behold for the Christian/hardcore band’s seventh studio album, Ø Disambiguation. At the end of the band’s European tour, the last original member, Aaron Gillespie, stated his departure as the drummer for Underoath to work on his side project and his position as a youth minister. Although there were no harsh feelings between Gillespie and the remaining members of Underoath, people left comments on the band’s website stating Underoath should break up since Gillespie was no longer a band member. Within a short while the band recruited Daniel Davison, the ex-drummer for Norma Jean, to begin the production of its next album, which came out last summer.
Although there is a new member in Underoath, the band still had Matt Goldman produce the album, who has produced all the Underoath albums since 2004. On every album, Underoath displays a different sound due to its techniques. Besides following the path of its previous experimental album, Lost in Sound of Separation, the band made a mutual decision to go in a unified direction instead of each member focusing on their own style. As a result, Underoath achieved a unique melodic harmony with the blend of hardcore. The guitars and drums flow perfectly together in “Driftwood.” The songs display how the instruments seem to flow together.
In the past, Underoath has based numerous songs after novels such as The Lord of the Rings. Underoath went beyond its past efforts of paying homage to novels by designing the inside of the jacket after Mark Z. Danielewski’s book, “The House of Leaves.” “Catch Myself Catching Myself” lyrics’ depict the novel’s character Will Navidson such as, “As I sink down into the floor and the walls are caving in and I don’t believe in them anymore.”
Drummer Daniel Davison displayed excellent attributes in the album even with the pressure of filling in Gillespie’s shoes. In contrast, Davison used more cymbals than Gillespie. Throughout the album, the tempo Davison played was a bit slower than Gillespie. Frontman Spencer Chamberlain took on two of the jobs he shared with Gillespie, song writing and vocals.
At times, it is shocking to know Chamberlain is managing two types of vocal abilities, screaming and clean vocals,extremely well. Chamberlin’s screaming was less harsh than previous records mainly due to the fact that he injured his vocal chords during the recording of the band’s last album. Overall, the lyrics display a darker depiction than the previous album.
Hardly anyone has heard of the musical qualities from Underoath displayed in the song “Paper Lung.” The song sounds like a mixture of the vocals and drumming in Thursday’s “Running in the Rain” with the guitars of Thrice’s “Silhouette.”
Overall, with the changes that Underoath displayed, the band created brilliant harmony for the hardcore scene that challenges those to come.
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Underoath’s latest hits hard
EMMA HAWES
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November 18, 2010
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