(Tooth & Nail/Solid State/EMI)

Sometimes, all one can do is sit back and thank the Lord for albums such as this

The first time I listened to this album, I was a bit miffed. Choosing to stick with the same two producers (Killswitch Engage’s Adam D. and Matt Goldman) who sat behind the chair for their last album, 2006’s Define The Great Line, Underoath’s newest offering is the same on the ear as its predecessor. There is hardly any difference sonically between the two. Second time around, I understood why the Floridians did it. Third time around, I had found my new album of the year. Lost In The Sound Of Separation sees Underoath build on the direction they took with Define The Great Line, only perfecting it and extending the boundaries. Where the hooks and 4/4 timing of their breakthrough album They’re Only Chasing Safety lingered on Define The Great Line, Lost… focuses more on irregular rhythmic patterns, attacking, earthy guitar tones and atmospherics that would make Isis blush. The fractured nature of the songs and the use of fertile dynamics are the perfect springboard for vocalist Spencer Chamberlain to deliver one of the most perfect deliveries in metal music today, full of searching and questions to a higher power. His control of screaming only gets better with time, as is Underoath’s love of using the quiet to explode into a musical monster. Songs like Too Bright To See Too Loud To Hear and Emergency Broadcast::The End Is Near build the listener up and then knock them down with a lush beauty astonishing to hear harnessed by a metal band. Lost In The Sound Of Separation is one of the most beautiful, chaotic, pounding, questioning and hopeful albums I have heard in a very long time. I challenge anybody to find a better heavy album to be released this year.

*****

LINDSEY CUTHBERTSON

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