Lista de los grupos Metalcore Underoath Cries of the Past

To be honest with you, I've never had any interest to listen to Underoath before and the only reason I bothered with Cries of the Past anyway is because I heard it was some fusion of melodic black/death metal and metalcore. Now, I'm not usually a big metalcore fan but the supposed synthesis of genres seemed interesting enough. Even though I did have doubts about the quality of the music, I pushed play and I was pleasantly surprised.

Coming from a band who is notorious (from what I here) about playing accessible post-hardcore/emo, I was not expecting what hit me. There's a HUGE black metal influence on this album, there's a lot of tremolo picking and a focus on keyboards to create a haunting ambiance. The vocals of Dallas Taylor are your typical high pitched shriek, I like how they're passionate and powerful, and although the growls don't lack as much character as the shrieking, they work well with the context of the music.

Musically, Underoath play an interesting blend of melodic death, black metal and metalcore. Now, usually if I hear a fusion of core with black metal that'd send me running, but Underoath play it with a degree of finesse and skill I wouldn't have expected. The metalcore influences aren't that pronounced actually, instead there's much more of a traditional screamo influence, with the screamed vocals being particularly influenced by screamo rather than taking a rasped black metal approach. I think I only counted about one breakdown within this album, this really isn't metalcore as many people view it, but instead there's a much more traditional post-hardcore vibe within the music. The influence from black and death metal is the most striking aspect of the music. The riffs are mainly tremolo picked leads mixed with thrashier sections, breakdowns aren't a large part of the music on Cries of the Past and instead the focus is just on damn good riffs. Much of the riffs have a definite Dissection vibe to them, and mixed with the ethereal keyboard work then the whole album is wrapped up in a black metal atmosphere. It's a rather odd mixture but honest to god it works.

With the album clocking in at over 40 minutes with only 5 tracks, this either shows a really bad attempt at making long songs or that the band are stellar song writers. For Underoath, it's the latter. There's a rather large progressive vibe running throughout the album, as songs run through numerous transitions. The transitions never feel haphazard or lazy however, the music has a strong sense of fluidity, with each riff complementing the one that came before. There's enough variation between each song to keep the album interesting and no single idea is repeated long enough to wear out its welcome. The use of acoustic guitars serve more than to break up the faster sections, they're suitably atmospheric and work well with the context of the music. What I really like about this album is just how damn consistent it is, nothing ever feels out of place or awkward, the whole thing just comes together to create one solid, cohesive package.

So overall this is a phenomenal album from a band I wasn't expecting much from, the musicianship is absolutely stellar and each song is fantastic. It's a shame that the band changed their sound so much as this is one of the best metalcore albums I've ever heard. From a band who has become the epitome of generic post-hardcore/metalcore I can't say I was expecting the quality Cries of the Past delivered, well worth listening for people who like their metal atmospheric and melodic. Cries of the Past comes highly recommended.