Over in the US, Underoath are a pretty big fucking deal. They’ve turned down a stream of major label offers, adorned the cover of music magazines and played sold out tour after sold out tour. It’s therefore surprising that Aaron Gillespie has found the time to record a solo project – let alone play and sing pretty much every note of it. While The Almost‘s debut full-length ‘Southern Weather’ is a very melodic departure from the aggressive ‘day job’, there’s still a very Underoath feel to it. ‘I Mostly Copy Other People’, for example, has a riff which sounds very old-skool Underoath, while the vocals often touch on the band’s more melodic side.
That said, The Almost are certainly not a project catering for Underoath b-sides. Influenced by the likes of Jimmy Eat World and coming across like Anberlin and more rock-driven bands, songs like ‘Say This Sooner’ and the album’s title track are chorus-driven tunes which rock like the proverbial bastard. The only issue I have with this record is that it tends to drag over the course of the 11-songs and while a couple of them sound brilliant, there are a couple of really dire tracks which will have you reaching for the skip button. When The Almost get it right, they get it very right. But on a couple of occasions they get it very wrong too. Undoubtedly this will do well because of the Underoath connections, but ‘Southern Weather’ is an enjoyable enough listen to warrant an exploratory listen in its own right.