Underoath comes out of the chute with a five minute fifty second cut called "Heart of Stone," and that is the shortest song on the CD! There are two tracks over ten minutes long. This Florida band takes some pride in the length of their songs, but what should impress their fans is they pull off these long songs with impressive musicianship and interesting musical themes. Mixing heavy metal, grindcore and black metal, Underoath gnaws and screams through six listed tunes (and one hidden track that is part poem/sermonette/testimony and part acoustic rock and praise).
The statement of purpose on the CD sleeve clued me in that the music and the band are a ministry, since it claims that the sole purpose of the record is to let you know that you are free by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The actual songs are not that evangelistic, however. The tunes range in subject from praise, encouragement, and testimony, to abortion and rape. The title song is about suicide.
The music is well crafted, and executed very nicely. Double bass and pounding drums, played by Aaron, accompany some moving bass lines from Octavio, that drive the underside. Corey's sometimes fast, sometimes crunching guitar sound, underscoring Dallas's screams of passion and growls of rage, make Underoath's sound as intense as it is. On the record, Dallas' vocals are mostly dual-tracked, giving the band a fatter, stronger death metal sound.
Black metal/hardcore fans look for Underoath. You won't be sorry. I promise. Under oath.
3.5 tocks
Other coverage for this album
HM Magazine #79Reviewed by Doug Van PeltOh yeah! Nice 'n' meaty metalcore. Mixing eye-popping vocals with growling toughens up the sound tons. The guitars and drums sound great here, especially when the double bass is just blasting away. Corey really does a good job of holding down all the guitar duties, beefing up the rhythm section as well as spotlighting with solo crunching. This band rocks!Decapolis 1999Reviewed by ConradAs you can probably tell by the name of the band - they're hardcore, with some metal. Unfortunately, for intense, hard music, it gets really boring. Remember when Tom, in his Zao review, said their singer sounded like Cobra Commander? Well the Underoath guy is the real Cobra Commander. His voice has that thin shredding "tone," as if he's trying to scratch out his vocal cords. It's not terrible…Decapolis 1999Reviewed by Tom BastianWell as I mentioned in past reviews, I'm not a fan of hardcore, metal or rap-core. I suppose this release would fit somewhere in the hardcore/metal category. This is pretty typical stuff for the genre, at least from my limited knowledge of this style. It's got that death metal drumming featuring fast double bass, and heavy and often fast guitars. In general the vocals pretty much just go from…Decapolis 1999Reviewed by TimBands like this remind me that my dream of being a singer is not terribly unrealistic. For those of you who know me, you know that I sing really badly. Well just know that hearing this band gives me hope. I don't know why people listen to this on CD. I understand the live show, because this music is really energetic, but I don't know why people listen to it in the car. When I listen to CDs in the…The Phantom Tollbooth 1999Reviewed by Glenn HarperFirst things first this is not a bad album. Act of Depression starts out with the track "Heart of Stone," which begins with a rather nice groove, although it quickly dissolves into a sludgy mess. Indeed, such moments characterize the disc, leading one to think that the band does have a considerable amount of talent; unfortunately, the listener gets only glimpses of such talent. The rhythm…Similar sounding releases
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