Underoath – Define The Great Line / 2006 Tooth and Nail / 11 Tracks / http://www.underoath777.com / http://www.toothandnail.com / Reviewed 10 November 2006

For some reason, I always thought that Underoath was primarily an emo band. When I start “Define The Great Line”, and listen to tracks like “You’re Ever So Inviting”, I hear something that is fundamentally harder than any emo band could conceivably strive to be. Sure, Underoath has their moments where they go into multiple part harmonies, but there is a rough sound to “Define The Great Line” that will make even the most grizzled hardcore fan smile. The production values of “Define The Great Line” are high enough that every minor nuance in Underoath’s sound is heard in exhaustive detail.

Thus, what eventually sounds like a full track is in reality a very deep and layered track in which every member of the band tries their hardest to make their parts perfect. “In Regards To Myself” is another one of these tracks that pushes forward with this harder track. Underoath eschews much of the more emo sound of “You’re Ever So Inviting”, but allows a little bit to titillate listeners. The mixture of emo to hardcore on this album is something that changes slightly through the tracks of “Define The Great Line”,, and this variation in sound is nice in regards to keep individuals on the edges of their seats. Underoath may be a Christian band on a Christian label, but the music and lyrics of the songs that are on the disc are not obviously Christian. I’m sure if someone looked at the lyrics of the tracks on the album, a number of them would have Christianity as their main focus, but the obfuscated vocals and the hard sound of Underoath will make that content less obvious.

The disc does not disappoint in regards to the amount of ground covered by the band. Underoath may have gotten a bad rap in the past, but the tracks on “Define A Great Line” constitute an overall solid album, one that will never gather a layer of dust on an individual’s book shelf. The band could look into a more thematic album for the next go around, but I don’t believe that the band has anything major left to change with their general sound. Give this disc a spin if all that you have heard is the prior work of Underoath, and I believe that you will be pleasantly surprised with the evolution that the band has had in the last few years.

Top Tracks: Salmarnir, You’re Ever So Inviting

Rating: 6.5/10

[JMcQ]