This is the sixth studio album from US metalcore band Underoath and it is pretty safe to say that this is their best offering as yet.
Released on September 2, the title is a lyric from the song We Are The Involuntary which, like the other songs on the album, is a lot heavier and darker than their previous offerings, however, it is just every bit as anthemic and ear-splitting as their 2006 release Define The Great line.
There is no doubt that this is a very catchy album and despite the unbelievably long titles of the songs all the songs seem to be just the right length and flow effortlessly into each other.
The first two tracks, Breathing In a New Mentality and Anyone Can Dig a Hole But It Takes a Real Man to Call it Home successfully include ever-changing metalcore sections and keep the listener greedily awaiting more as they slip into Breathing...
Spencer’s vocals seem to have gotten bigger and better since the last record and all in all we see a band that are growing and coming into their own with each record they produce. The we reach The Only Survivor Was Miraculously Unharmed - which is a song that brilliantly sums up what I had expected from this album before I'd even whacked it in my cd player. I find myself dancing around the room like a manic teenager would to a Girls Aloud tune and I think that this is definitely a winner!
However, as many other critics have said, the second half of the album doesn't quite live up to the successes of the first as they really don't differentiate much from each other; however, they are what i would probably refer to as; 'very Underoath.'
In conclusion though, the band have done well and produced yet another album that they can really be proud of. It brings a tighter sense of song writing as well as a greater level of experimentalism with their sound and song structure. They have clearly grown both as a band as well as people and is definitely one of the best bands to come out of the metalcore sector this year.
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison