Underoath "They're Only Chasing Safety" CD
[Tooth & Nail]
I've never heard this band before, only heard of them, so I don't know how this compares to their prior work, but this disc is chock full of "radio screamo" styled stuff that's really heavy and abrasive vocally as well as quite melodic and extremely professionally produced. And when I call it "radio screamo" I don't mean that as an insult, that's just how I view it. Because the recording sounds like a million bucks and the songs are well written to a degree that I'm sure they'll do fairly well with it. It's your usual mix of shredding screams and very nice singing with some strong vocal harmonies, and the music ranges from not-quite-upbeat melodic chords and somewhat catchy arrangements to layers of dissonant or caustic notes. Some of the most memorable tracks, like "Reinventing Your Exit", use keyboards in the choruses and whatnot, which is a little irritating to me because they're not necessary and sort of clash with the guitars, but I can live with it since they're not mixed too prominently or anything. There are some crazy choral singing vocals in "It's Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door" that I really dislike, but thankfully that moment is brief, as are other slight faults that I'd cite here. Moments of "I Don't Feel Very Receptive Today" are exceedingly frantic and caustic, which is a bit unlike the general tone of this stuff - nothing ever gets metally, but this is definitely among the more truly chaotic tracks. On the other hand, closer "Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape" opens with programmed beats, fairly faint clean guitars, and far softer singing and continues along a similar path for the bulk of the track, distortion not kicking in until around the three-minute mark. As mentioned the production is fucking awesome. I don't have a single complaint. This fucker sounds like a major label release. It's totally polished and everything is full in tone and crystal clear in detail. Nothing leans too far out front or sounds off kilter at all. Totally slick. I love that shit. The layout looks quite nice, it's fairly simple in its use of large photographs that are crystal clear and follow a pretty strict color palette, with minimal use of a pale green color elsewhere with the lyrics. The band photo sort of looks like crap compared to how great the other images are, which is odd, but whatever. The lyrics are all personal and often deal with relationships, so I'm not really into that, but they have some decent moments. "Around this turn where the cross will cast your shadow, the people will all gather to remember such a day where the flames grew as high as trees, and the world stopped for you and me..." I like this. I'm not blown away and the record does have its lull moments (as with many such records the first several songs are the best), but overall it's really good for this style, and the recording alone really leaves a dent. (7/10)
Running time - 35:50, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Young and Aspiring, Reinventing Your Exit, I'm Content With Losing]
Solid State Records - http://www.solidstaterecords.com

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