Doubts ran high when drummer Aaron Gillespie announced he was leaving Underoath earlier this year, as he added the integral, melodic second voice. Soldiering on, the ban tabbed former Norma Jean drummer Daniel Davison, and frontman Spencer Chamberlain stretched his voice beyond just a throat-scratching scream.

'In Division' shows the band rejuvenated, as they're drowned in a flood of water and down-tuned heaviness they haven't forayed into before their newest album, 'Ø (Disambiguation).'


"I wasn't burnt out at all," drummer Daniel Davison said in a recent interview about his life post-Norma Jean and pre-Underoath. "It just kind of worked out that way, and I think it was partially that I didn't want to just start another band and try to make a living from it."

While away from the stage, Davison started making music videos with his wife under the name Isthmus Studio. It wasn't big leap for him, as he manned the majority of the images and stage set ups surrounding Norma Jean over the years. But even while staying involved in music and managing a few bands, he still had trouble adjusting to being home.

"[When] you're in a band, you're maybe home for a month and then you have to leave and tour, and you fall into that rhythm and it's really fun. So it took a while to get used to, but once I kind of got over that hump, I enjoyed that consistency of being at home, because that was the first time I'd been at home for more than two or three months since I was 16."

That stability was short-lived, when he got the call from 'Oath guitarist Tim McTague. Davison's wife was pulling for him to take the offer to join. "She was like, 'You gotta do this. You were made for that.' And as far as she's concerned, playing and writing music is what I'm meant to do. She loves it and she loves to see me play, so she's super-stoked on it."

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