Lost In the Sound of Separation

Album Review

2006's Define the Great Line proved to be a turning point for faith-based, post-hardcore/screamo outfit Underoath. While the tendency to dissolve into the abyss of angtsy emo-pop was still there, there was a darkness lurking in the nooks and crannies between the crackling snare hits and heavy "drop-d" riffing that hinted at a little pre-evolution, a notion that comes to fruition with their sixth studio record and fourth for Solid State (the metal subdivision of Tooth & Nail Records). Lost in the Sound of Separation gets off to a rocky start with its two most forgettable songs, "Breathing in a New Mentality" and "Anyone Can Dig a Hole But It Takes a Real Man to Call It Home," both of which are big, loud, mean, monotonous, and virtually interchangeable with any other formulaic "loud, quiet, scream, loud, quiet, scream" alt metal tune. However, it doesn't take long for Separation to rescue itself from painfully serious, aggro-MTV mediocrity, as those two tracks are quickly followed up by the riveting "A Fault Line, A Fault of Mine" and "Emergency Broadcast: The End Is Near," two slightly experimental, highly melodic cuts (make that four, as "Too Bright to See Too Loud to Hear" and near-instrumental closer "Desolate Earth: The End Is Near" are mini-masterpieces of hope and anguish) that not only signal growth for the Florida ensemble, but deliver on the dark promises that haunted Define the Great Line, exposing a more mature, post-apocalyptic nightmare that manages to give equal time to both loss and redemption, declaring allegiance to neither.