UNDEROATH “The Changing of Times”
The mere fact that Kevin of Punkrocks.net and myself argued over who would to get buy the only copy of “The Changing of Times” while visiting a Tower Records indicates from the onset that this release is worth extending some effort over. UNDEROATH have strayed a bit from the straight-up metalcore that drove their previous releases and dabble this time with more melodic passages and a little bit of progrock. Eerily enough, when some of the beautiful singing kicks in, it’s as if UNDEROATH have done a matter-transport with THE JULIANA THEORY. As odd as that may seem, it works real well, and those sweet passages fail to displace too much of the visceral mayhem at hand. Speaking of which, UNDEROATH excel in creating riveting transitions, especially when the band clocks into a double-bass drenched speed-frenzy at a song’s climax. The first track, “When the Sun Sleeps” is the longest, at a shade under six minutes, but the song’s varying structure and timing changes keep it from dragging much at all, and this feeling is repeated often. “Short of Daybreak” is probably “the most metal” of all ten songs, and at moments, it feels like a flashback to METALLICA’s “Ride the Lightning” album with better production. I dare you to not to bang your head to the chunky guitar riffs! It took me a little while to ease into the sound quality on “The Changing of Times” although it’s of supreme fidelity. The most obvious element that bothered me was that it seemed that the guitars sounded very minimized in the face of absolutely booming drums and screamed vocals. When the additional strings, keyboards, pianos, and other touches were tossed in, it felt as if the overall completeness of the band’s sound was being restrained, though the power of the band should not be understated – and in a live setting, it’s probably mystifying. Lyrically, there’s a slightly religous slant to most of the songs, but nothing so overt and imbued in faith that it should be off-putting to non-Christians. Originality may be hard to come by in the metalcore genre, but a band like UNDEROATH does a great job in personalizing the style to fit their own artistic creations.
Solid State/Tooth and Nail
