Weird in a good way

With a changed lineup, Tampa’s Underoath’s sound is still heavy By Alan Sculley

Spencer Chamberlain, vocalist for the band Underoath, feels his group is sometimes the wild card on multi-band tours and can sometimes be, as he put it, the “weirdest” band on its tours.

Chamberlain isn’t uncomfortable in coming to that realization. In fact, it may well be a sign that Underoath is beginning to achieve something that has been a long-running goal for the group – to be a band that changes music in some way.

“We want to be something new and original, even if it’s not for everybody,” Chamberlain said. “We don’t expect to be the next Linkin Park size wise or to be accepted by the masses. But we want to be bringing something completely different to the table…At least this record, I don’t feel like there’s another band that you can say ‘Oh, it sounds like this.’ I really don’t think you can.”

That new record, called “Disambiguation,” is the fifth for the Tampa-based group, and it was released in November. It marks an evolution for Underoath in some very tangible ways.

On a simple level, “Disambiguation” begins a new stage in the group’s career after the departure of drummer Aaron Gillespie, a founding member and songwriting contributor to the group over the course of its four previous CDs. Gillespie, who was replaced by former Norma Jean drummer Daniel Davison, has gone on to start the group the Almost.

“I think it was kind of a long time coming thing, a lot of musical style differences,” Chamberlain said of the split. “I think he didn’t really like the music we were writing. He just wanted to do his own thing.”

Without Gillespie in the band, Chamberlain said, Underoath was stronger and more unified as a unit than ever – good news for a group that is now widely considered one of the leading bands on the scene.

“Disambiguation” retains many of the group’s musical signatures. As always, there are plenty of songs built around roiling guitars and lots of Chamberlain’s throaty screams (“In Division,” “A Divine Eradication” and “Illluminator”). But the group varies the intensity from time to time, mixing in ghostly tones and lead guitar lines to create a more ambient spin on its heavy sound on “Paper Lung,” while “Driftwood” dabbles in some pitter-patting rhythms and droning sonics to create its murky feel.

“I think it’s just where we’ve been trying to go for awhile,” Chamberlain said of the new CD. “It’s way more mature. It’s got like a darker feel to it and it’s really heavy, but I feel like at the same time it’s more melodic than the last two records as well. Yeah, I just feel like it’s where we wanted to be.”

Evolving the sound of the band – which also includes guitarists Tim McTague, and James Smith, keyboardist Christopher Dudley and bassist Grant Brandell  – meant tackling some specific goals for “Disambiguation,” beginning with the songwriting.

On the earlier albums, Gillespie had generally handled the singing parts of songs, while Chamberlain was the screaming vocalist. For “Disambiguation,” Chamberlain did both styles of the vocals.

“It made it way more open and free, for sure,” Chamberlain said of his songwriting approach. “I could take any song and dress it ay way I wanted to. If I wanted to sing the whole song, I could pretty much sing the whole song. It was cool to just be able to do whatever made the most sense for the song.”

The writing of the songs shifted in another way as well, as the band – while still showing its sonically adventurous spirit, put those elements in more conventional song settings.

“It (“Disambiguation”) is more experimental and chaotic, but it’s structured,” Chamberlain said. “‘Lost In The Sound Of Separation’ (the group’s 2008 CD) was just kind of riffs…There was never really verse-chorus (structures) where you go ‘Oh yeah, this part is happening again.’

“I think with this album, we were more trying to write songs and less (thinking) ‘Let’s just write some riffs and keep going and take it in all these different directions,’” he said. “We focused more on songwriting than just like awesome riffs.”

Now Underoath is back on tour with its new lineup and its redefined sound. For Chamberlain, he’s had little trouble adjusting to his new role of handling sung vocals as well as screaming.

“It’s great for me,” he said. “I wrote this record for one person. There’s no overlapping, and I was very conscious of is it going to be realistic or not. It’s fine. I’ve been singing in bands longer than I’ve been screaming in bands, so I was really looking forward to it. Yeah, I enjoy it.”