Review Summary: So steady your hand before your face and concentrate. This album is the GOAT.
Define the Great Line is the most important record to ever cross my ears. As a pre-teen I was big into groups like 5ive, Backstreet Boys and Aqua. As I
progressed and moved into High School I discovered Good Charlotte and Mest which were my gateway into earlier punk music and a STRONG love of neck tattoos…. I stumbled my way into Sublime and Rancid due to smoking a lot of weed towards the end of high school and loved Metallica cause all I wanted to do was play bass like Cliff. But that was about as
extreme as little young bellovddd dove.
Underoath were not an unknown band to me through High School. I had spun 'Cries of the Past' because one of my more
religious mates recommended them, and it just wasn’t for me. I had heard some hype building for their next album, something about defining something, so I returned to my mate and asked what it was all about. His words were limited and only advised that I check out ‘They’re Only Chasing Safety’. So, I did, and I was stopped in my tracks. ‘TOCS’ had me hook line and sinker due to the countless hooks and Aarons clean vocals taking lead all over the place. I didn’t like Spencer though, he felt in the way and when he attempted to sing, I cocked my head like a dog looking at the dickhead about to light some fireworks.
Despite this, I was so prepared for ‘Define the Great Line’ to drop I pre ordered that mofo from the States and my parents were pissed, because they paid. But I did not care because I was ready for those Pop Hooks to come at me, and I missed Aaron’s voice. The disc arrived. Like a boy who loves cake being given a large cake I was mystified. The album art was dark and bleak, not the brightly colored ‘TOCS’ that I was expecting. Nevertheless, I opened that package and flipped that CD into my discman, put the headphones on and pressed play.
I know you all have those moments when you realise that you were truly missing out on something. I tend to have them a lot less now as I get old and grumpy, but my most recent example was discovering Counterparts. I digress, a
good guitar riff can change everything. ‘In Regard To Myself’ was THE moment that I realised I needed to expand my musical taste into every pre and post of metal there was. The opening riff made me understand different guitar tunings and I put the bass down to focus on what was going on there.
My first whole listen through of ‘Define the Great Line’ I really had no idea what was going on. It was an assault of a brutally I was not used to but at the same time it had moments that made me reflect on my inner self whilst singing and moving my feet like I would on a dancefloor. I was confused, captivated and downright disgusted in myself for letting it take me so long to appreciate what metal could do and could be.
The most unexpected aspect of ‘Define the Great Line’ to me is Spencer and his vocal performance. I
hated his performance on ‘TOCS’ and didn’t need any more from him. ‘Define the Great Line’ proves that he is a completely different vocalist as he was on ‘TOCS’ as he decided to not copy Dallas any longer and his lows were so new and fresh to me that I fell in love with all unclean vocals from that point onwards. His cleans also cut through nicely and give a nice counterpoint to Aaron’s very strong vocal performance which whilst used sparingly here, the effect is enormous as all his appearances have an emotional presence that elevates the tracks rather then put a splinter in the mayhem surrounding them.
Underoath opened my eyes to Opeth and from there I’ve been down most metal rabbit holes and found plenty I love, and plenty I hate. Spinning ‘Define the Great Line’ brought back a lot of good memories. I saw them play in Aus when they were touring this release, and it is still one of the most emotional and energetic performances I have witnessed. There was an energy and honesty to Underoath around that time that really hit me and many others. It has nothing to do with Religion either because I am a strong Atheist and always felt super weird when they did those prayer circles at their concerts…
It's hard to put into words what this album truly means. It made me not only expand into all areas of metal, but it also let me give hip hop music a chance because it terrified me to think that I could be missing the ‘Define the Great Line’ of another genre so I
had to know. Its unfortunate now, that I will never come across another album like this. There isn’t enough
new metal that interests me and I’m way to ***ing jaded to get emotionally connected to most new bands now (apart from you Counterparts, my boys). If I had hopes on Underoath reproducing it well, I don’t. No one can reproduce this, it’s a product of a very weird but special time in metal music. When the mainstream came knocking and the labels came calling for the cookie cutter Underoath rip offs and the universe provided some outstanding bands, but also some of the worst bands known to mankind.
