It is quite interesting to investigate a popular bands early works. Since I’ve already written reviews on the two newest Underoath albums with a decidedly negative view of them, I decided it was time to give some of their earlier works a go. To be completely honest, its not hard to see why
Underoath did not achieve much popularity until their breakout release, 2004’s
They’re Only Chasing Safety, the album that cemented them as scene heavy weights and the favorite band of nearly every gender confounded male you could find at Hot Topic. 1999 saw the newly formed group release their debut EP,
Act of Depression, a thorough lesson in loving Jesus, hating abortions and child molesters chugging riffs, and deplorable screaming.
So what is so different about this release than the bands later work? For one, its completely stylistically separate from any of their later works. While
They’re Only Chasing Safety was a popcore record from start to finish, and
Define the Great Line was more in the vein of metalcore-lite,
Act of Depression is (from my limited knowledge of the genre) quite a black metal sounding record, with a bit of metalcore mixed in for good measure. While I may catch flack by many metal purists on the site, it shares many similarities with the genres. There are chugging riffs, the blast-beating drums, and almost always either growling or screaming vocals (save for the occasional pro-life rant mid song, but we’ll get to that later). That having been said, of all of the black metal I’ve been exposed to, this by far is probably the worse.
To start with the positive aspects, even I have to admit that there is some instrumental talent. The drumming from Gillespie far outweighs his current work in creativity, utilizing plenty of double bass rolls, interesting fills, and tempo changes. He is obviously the most talented member of the band, regardless of the context. Gillespie seems to be the master of finding an interesting backbeat to whatever the band happens to be doing. The guitarists show quite a bit of technicality on many of Depression’s tracks, accentuating Gillespie’s pounding beats with some equally brutal but melodic riffs and tempo changes. Overall, the song structure is much more diverse and unorthodox compared to their most recent outings as well, as is readily apparent in any black metal influenced music. So while they certainly do not reinvent the wheel on this release, Underoath showcases the fact that at least they are capable of impressive musicianship and decent, although unremarkable (in genre) song structures.
But, lest we forget, this is still a future popcore band’s debut release, so naturally, its loaded to the seams with garbage. Dallas Taylor’s vocals are just absolutely horrendous. He’s an abominable screamer, being absolutely incomprehensible in every sense of the word. A closer look at the lyrics shows that not only shows how incomprehensible Taylor’s screaming is (which really shouldn’t be given that honor, it should be called screeching), but how horrid of a lyricist both Dallas Taylor and Aaron Gillespie were (and to a degree, still are, although not nearly as bad as on this album). A perfect example of the overly preachy and terribly written lyrics comes in the form of
Burden In Your Hands, a strongly anti-abortion track that sounds like a mix of Jurassic Park and Jim Baker.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Burden in Your Hands
You should of thought about the baby before you had sex, because you have destroyed a gift from God
You kill, you destroyed
Never will this baby be able to grow up or show it's love
You'll never hear it say I love you, I love you
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Another major flaw that plagues every track on
Acts of Depression is the obnoxious repetitiveness. With many albums, the claim is made that “every song sounds the same”. Unfortunately, Depression is really the epitome of this statement. In no even slight exaggeration of the phrase, Depression makes James Blunt’s debut rock like The Mars Volta. The same guitar riff is recycled in at least 4 out of the 6 songs and possibly more. Two of the songs, namely
A Love So Pure and
Burden in Your Hands, have the exact same structure, both concluding with a calmer interlude and with some form of uber-religious interlude, the former being a chant of “Jesus Christ/I Love You/My Heart Aches For You”.
In all actuality, this album is probably the most difficult to listen to out of all of
Underoath’s albums. Unfortunately though,
They’re Only Chasing Safety and
The Changing of the Times prove to be much more musically basic offerings, although with less cringe worthy lyrics, and more popcore predictability, making them worse offerings. As for
Act of Depression, its really, really bad. Honestly, its probably some of the worst sounds ever created, and easily one of the hardest albums to listen to in the history of music (the album clocks in at nearly 50 minutes with only 6 tracks). This album isn’t something that fans of black metal will enjoy, as its poorly performed. This album isn’t something that fans of
Underoath or similar bands will enjoy, as it’s completely different from their later releases. In fact, aside from Drummers, I don’t see any reason that anyone should own this, or even listen to it for that matter.
1.5/5
Recommended Tracks:
Define the Great Line if you must.
