Review Summary: The pinnacle of the Dallas fronted Underoath.
Back in the day (1999-2001) Underoath were a Christian or un-black metal band, however they occasionally dabbled into the realms of Metalcore. In 2002 the band released their third album, the aptly named The Changing of Times. Which in hindsight is a rather accurate album title, for those unfamiliar with Underoath; the album following this sucked so much you’d think it was made by a back alley prostitute.
In regards to musical performance, the majority of the album is solid. Although the bass is rarely audible the guitar work is fairly interesting. Granted the style present here is vastly different to the guitar work on more recent albums. Generally Octavio Fernadez and Tim McTague focus on a more riff centric approach to song writing which lead to the album being very guitar driven.
Not unlike his current work Aaron Gillespie maintains a rather fast and consistent level of drumming. Although he doesn’t add as much variation to his patterns and fills, his style on this album fits well with the guitar centric songs. Similarly Chris Dudley focuses primarily on melodic keyboard work, occasionally adding the electronic sounds that would be heavily incorporated into their later work. For the most part the keyboard work is entertaining, although at times it crosses the line into adamantly cheesy territory (“Angel Below”).
Vocally the album is up to par, Dallas Taylor’s primary vocal style is a harsh high scream that is relatively consistent, and he also occasionally throws in some low growls. However, at certain points it is obvious that Dallas just doesn’t fit with the music. Lead single “When the Sun Sleeps” is his weakest moment and although the song is enjoyable he just doesn’t fit in with the simplistic and poppy tune. At other times he gives the performance of his life “A Message for Adrienne” is easily the strongest song on the album and Dallas’ performance is filled with a beastly passion.
Notably this album is also the first to feature Aaron Gillespie’s clean vocals; unfortunately aside from “When the Sun Sleeps” his performance is rather basic, he’s more or less drowned out most of the time. Outside of Aaron’s rather bland performance and the occasional slip ups on Dallas’ part the majority of the vocals on the album are impressive. Granted they’re very different from what fans of newer Underoath albums will expect.
In retrospect this is definitely the pinnacle of the Dallas fronted Underoath, the album combines the band’s earlier Black Metal style with a similar form of Metalcore and some elements of poppy-post hardcore. For those unfamiliar with the original Underoath this is the perfect place to start, it’s more accessible than their earlier works and the production is relatively solid. Overall The Changing of Times is a solid effort from the Dallas’ fronted Underoath, although the lack of audible bass, occasionally cheesy keys and at times out of place vocals bring it down it is still an interesting and worthwhile album.
