Some of the best artists in the industry are the ones who are inspired by tragedy, and use an album as therapy to express themselves. I can think of few harder hitting tragedies than what Dallas Taylor the lead screamer of UnderOath at this time went through, losing your fiancée. This entire album is fueled by his anger, bitterness, sorrow and hope for his fiancée in heaven. If you are into heavy metal then I would recommend this album because it is one of my personal favorites.
The thing that makes Dallas special is one his ability to put all of his emotions into his songs, and two his screaming capabilities. Throughout this album Cries of the Past Dallas has a low death metal scream, and a high pitched more hardcore scream. The transitions between the two screams are flawless and I am not surprised if he had lost his voice for a while after this album. The album only weighs in at five songs but each one is personal, heavy, and melodic each instrument carries an ambience to support Dallas' vocals.
If you listen to UnderOath now then you know Chris Dudley the keyboardist really doesn't do much and can rarely be heard. Go back to old Underoath whit this album and it is a completely different story. Dudley’s keyboard riffs can be heard in every song on Cries of the Past and he add’s allot to the overall tone of the song. Dallas will be screaming in the song Cries of the Past, "looking over your casket seeing your face”. While Dallas is screaming powerful words like that Dudley will be playing a sorrowful medley to go along with his words. Aaron on drums at just being only fifteen at this time pulls out great double bass like the intro to the song Giving Up Hurts The Most. He opens the song up with a perfect drum solo and add’s allot to make sure the album is heavy and chaotic. The guitar is also the best it has ever been for UnderOath and the riffs from songs like The Last are enough to prove that UnderOath can pull of some great guitar work.
Every song on this album is good, and I have listened to this album several times. Each instrument adds something great to support Dallas Taylor as he unleashes himself completely holding nothing back to create an incredible album. If you want to hear how good UnderOath was check out this album and if you love metal your ears will thank you for it.
