July 4, 2000 - Cries Of The Past

It's a double release day! On the same day as my last release and exactly one year since their debut album "Act Of Depression", Underoath released their second album "Cries Of The Past" on July 4, 2000. In the year that has passed Underoath have grown from a four-piece to a six-piece with a few instrument changes as well. Dallas Taylor is still on vocals and Aaron Gillespie is still on drums. Corey Steger is now just the lead guitarist and bassist Octavio Fernandez is the new rhythm guitarist! Joining the band are new bassist Matt Clark and keyboardist Christopher Dudley. Underoath are still playing the same style of progressive death metal and the shortest song on this album is 7:36! Sounds very progressive indeed, let's see how six-piece Underoath sounds!

The album begins oddly enough with "The Last" and after a bit of a psychedelic opening they move into a super fast-paced main riff with some wicked fast guitars by Steger. Everything else sounds pretty fast backing him as well and Taylor screams in a nice high voice overtop. They slow things down at times as well and things sound groovier when they do, which also sounds pretty good. After four minutes of solid jamming Dudley shows up for the first time with some slow and epic keyboards that take things in a new direction. Steger plays a short but cool guitar solo overtop, then they nicely return to the fast-paced riff. After a bit more of this they nicely break down into another new riff and Taylor does some nice really low screams in this part. Dudley returns and they close out the song with more epic keyboards and this was a pretty awesome way to kick things off. Nicely done guys! Up next is "Giving Up Hurts The Most" and Gillespie starts us off with some pretty wicked drums before everyone else comes thundering in with another fast-paced and heavy main riff. Steger leads the way with some nice guitar and Dudley plays some backing keyboards that fit surprisingly well. Taylor eventually comes in with a nice high screaming verse and everything sounds pretty sweet once again! There is no let-up as they just continue to play some great death metal with lots of awesome guitar by Steger and lots of great screaming, high and low, by Taylor. His low growls are almost Mikael Akerfeldt-like and there are several cool and different riffs mixed into another near eight minute track. They end the song with Gillespie just talking overtop of a light guitar riff and it's an unexciting way to wrap up what was otherwise another pretty awesome song. Track 3 is the shortest song at 7:36 and it's called "Walking Away". Taylor screams high and low simultaneously in a cool opening to this one and Gillespie does some much better backing vocals as Taylor continues to scream in this unusual bit decent part, then they finally become a death metal band again with amore typical(ly awesome) main riff. They do an excellent job with all the segues on this very progressive track and there are so many different riffs, I couldn't possibly talk about all of them. There is cool drums, some sweet bass at times, lots of great guitar and Taylor screams high, low, and also sings at times (which isn't that great) giving us a mix of everything. They do a great job of relieving the pressure with short but cool lighter parts, then firing back into some more sweet death metal. They end the song on a fantastic note and this was definitely a very cool song. The next track is the longest at almost eleven and a half minutes and it's called "And I Dreamt Of You". Steger plays some great fast guitar, Taylor does some more nice screaming, and the rhythm section is so fast as well, especially some cool bass by Clark. The first two and a half minutes are pretty sweet, then they slow things down with a much slower new guitar riff that Taylor nicely growls overtop of. After a minute or so of this they nicely kick back into some more typically wicked death metal. They do a good job of slowing things down just a little, only to of course return to some sweet super fast stuff. Around seven minutes in Gillespie plays a nice drum fill that leads to a cool new riff and after jamming this out for a minute or so Steger nicely ramps things up with some more epic guitar that is pretty much constant for the whole song! The last several minutes are some more super fast and cool riffs and the song ends with Taylor saying "I love you" before a final epic note. There was a lot of cool stuff on this track and I didn't mind the long length one bit! The final song on the album is the title track "Cries Of The Past" and it starts with a long talking part overtop some synths by Dudley (who's been very unnoticeable for the most part). The synths carry over into the first metal riff and things sound very heavy with some nice low growls by Taylor. Steger plays some nice faster lead guitar while Fernandez plays a nice slower rhythm riff and about four minutes in Gillespie and Dudley start up a new riff with some solid drums and keyboards respectively. Evwetine else builds nicely around them and that was really nicely done, leading to a nice death metal riff. Everything stops and Clarl plays a sweet bass riff by himself before everyone nicely slams in for an awesomely heavy new riff. This part sounds pretty wicked and it goes on for a couple minutes before Dudley's synths take over for the final minute, which is a bit of a sad way to wrap up what was mostly another pretty sweet tune.

That is the end of "Cries Of The Past" and I thought it was a pretty fantastic album! Underoath have really perfected their death metal craft on this album and I think they've built upon and easily surpassed their debut "Act Of Depression". There is a lot of great progressive and super heavy music on this album, where will Underoath go from here? It's not what you'd think!