July 4, 1999 - Underoath and Act Of Depression

Six days after my last release a new band joins my library when Underoath released their debut album "Act Of Depression" on July 4, 1999. But who are Underoath? They are a four-piece Christian death metal (yup that's right) band from Tampa, Florida consisting of lead singer Dallas Taylor, guitarist Corey Steger, bassist Octavio Fernandez and drummer and clean vocalist Aaron Gillespie. Underoath's lyrics are pretty religious and praise-heavy, but you can't make them out a lot of the time anyway and they play a very heavy and pretty progressive style of metal with no song shorter than 5:50. Let's see what Underoath is all about!

The album begins with it's shortest song "Heart Of Stone" and after a very creepy laugh opens things they kick into a nice heavy main riff with some chugging guitars and Taylor screams in his high voice overtop and he sounds pretty heavy holding some nice long screams. He gives us a taste of a nice low growl as well, but mostly he screams in a solid high voice. There are a few nice breakdowns on this song and it's pretty crazy that these guys are so religious, the music is super heavy and angry! After four minutes or so of jamming this out nicely the guitars pick up the pace significantly and we hear some great faster stuff, some cool faster drums and I love this transition to the faster riff, because it makes the following breakdown hit so much harder. I live the super slow chugging riff and this was a pretty solid opener that throws you right in the fire from the get-go. Up next is the album's longest song at over ten and a half minutes and it's called "A Love So Pure". Steger plays a slow guitar riff while Taylor screams nicely overtop and he sounds like he is giving his all with every scream, I love it! Once things pick up to the faster pace everything sounds pretty cool with some great fast guitar, bass and drums and Taylor continues to pour out his soul overtop. After a few minutes everything stops and Fernandez plays some cool bass that nicely transitions us to the next part where some nice fast guitars and more long screams await. Words don't do proper justice: I describe this part the same way, but it's a unique and totally different riff, and everything sounds pretty heavy and sweet! Around 6:45 in everything goes quiet and a light guitar riff starts up that is very out of character compared to everything we've heard so far and drummer Gillespie speaks a short part that is basically a prayer and definitely a mood killer. After the prayer, they kick right back into some cool heavy music and Taylor is back to screaming his head off, much much better! Everything gets quiet again for the final minute as Gillespie just repeats "Jesus Christ, I love you" and it's another total mood killer! This is definitely not what I'm looking for, but I begrudgingly accept it since most of the song was pretty sweet, just an awful ending though. Track 3 is "Burden In Your Hands" and again, words do not so proper justice when I say Taylor nicely screams overtop of Steger switching between fast and heavy guitar and slow, chugging guitar. Gillespie's drums are pretty nuts as well when they're going fast and I love how tight they are! My head is banging fast and slow the whole way through and these guys are really good at this progressive style of death metal. Gillespie sings a verse on this song as well and while it's not nearly as religious, he's just not that good a singer and should probably leave things to Taylor. When Taylor takes over again things sound much better and he hits a few really high screams in the closing part. Aside from Gillespie's part, a pretty cool tune! The next track is "Innocence Stolen" and Steger plays a slow but cool guitar riff and Taylor screams nicely overtop in his typical high voice. After a couple minutes they shift to a faster new part and the transition is done nicely as the pace slowly picks up and we end up at some really fast stuff at the end with Gillespie playing some nice fast drums as well. They continue to alternate between slow and fast parts and while I mostly like the faster parts, there is one slow section near the end where Taylor growls nice and low and things sound pretty heavy and sweet. They end things on a great fast note and this was another pretty solid tune. Track 5 is the title track "Act Of Depression" and it's another double digit song at about ten and a half minutes. Fernandez plays some cool low bass to start us off and Gillespie follows with a nice drum beat. Steger enters with some chugging guitars and Taylor screams high overtop for a cool and pretty heavy riff. Taylor adds some great low growls after a couple minutes and they shift nicely into a new riff with Gillespie playing a cool new drum beat and the guitar and bass slowly jamming along. After a bit of this riff it burns out and out of the ashes emerges a new guitar riff that progressively takes us to the next cool heavy riff. This riff leads to a weird part where we hear a whole bunch of kids talking and yelling and out of this oddity builds another new part and once they finally bring it all in and Taylor is growling, things sound pretty awesome and super heavy. This part breaks the fuck down to finish off this long song and it's a fantastic way to end what was a pretty killer double digit song! The album wraps up with "Watch Me Die" and it has a slow opening with Taylor singing and his singing is not that great, he should totally stick to screaming and growling. He sings for way too long in this decent but certainly lesser opening until finally they snap into a more typical, faster riff with some nice drums, much faster guitar and some Taylor doing some great growling and screaming! From this point on things sound really good and words don't do proper justice when I say there's some pretty cool death metal going on. There's great contributions from everyone and it all combines for a great way to finish off this debut album!

That is the end of "Act Of Depression" and I thought it was a pretty good debut by these Christian death metalheads! I could do without the Christian parts, but the music is undeniably heavy and sweet. Each member seems pretty good at their respective instrument, especially Dallas Taylor who can hit lots of high screams and also some great low growls. I look forward to hearing more Underoath in the future!