Underoath - Define the Great Line

 - San Diego, California - Underoath’s Define the Great Line was one of my first exposures to metal music, and though the album is not perfect, it does an incredible number of things well and often surpasses the usual emotional limits of this style of music. In this album, Underoath masterfully combines screaming and singing as complementing styles rather than competing ones and implements rhythm to reinforce the emotional aspects of the lyrical content. Though the album occasionally loses its focus, it quickly snaps back to a form that maximizes the chaos of metal by providing the listener with moments of rest. Through both its construction and execution, Define the Great Line proves to be a satisfying musical experience with lasting value due to its inspiring applications of the metalcore subgenre.

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Indie Music, Demystified: The Unmanned Drum Kit

 - San Diego, California - I’ll be honest: I’d love to be able to record a live drummer, but I don’t have the space or the equipment to record drums that sound half-decent. As a result, in the past I have used a software-based drum kit (Groove Agent, to be specific) and will likely continue to use them for the foreseeable future. Having relegated myself to this reality, I have spent considerable time not only trying to learn how to emulate a “real drummer sound” but also exploring how I, as a non-drummer, can understand and learn from the rhythmic conventions and creative potential of programming a drum part.

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