Underoath deal in stereotypes; a little screaming some rather dense riffs and drum patterns designed to puncture your limb. Except there is a twist, confusion perhaps in the way things work, Underoath are a Christian Metal band-yes that’s right, metal not rock. These guys would eat Creed for breakfast, only y’know their religion kind of inhibits it.
Sorry, I couldn’t help that. Sometimes it’s just too hard to shift a prejudice. ‘Lost in the sound’ is not at all how you’d expect it to sound, it’s furious swirling guitar parts create a circle pit in your mind with everything but the sweat. Lyrically, once you realise there is a religious element it becomes apparent ‘I gave you nothing, I took you nowhere, you’re still listening’. The Christian guilt complex is rife here, in fact there’s even a scratch and sniff panel on the CD so you get the full guilt experience. The rancid stench of a guilty man, pleasant.
Musically this is less P.O.D and comes closer to bands like Linkin Park, Story of the year and a handful of other nondescript US imports. It’s solid, it’s actually surprisingly listenable but the entire package is riddled with clichés, still if you think you can get past that and nasal American accents and chunky riffs are your things then I highly recommend this record. It does beg the question though, would God really want a band of sweaty blokes to be screaming until their throats bleed about the virtues of a righteous life?
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