TORONTO - Looks can be deceiving.

Just after lunch, plunked down at a restaurant table amidst the well-heeled crowd on the edges of Toronto's financial district, you'd expect Underoath drummer/ vocalist, Aaron Gillespie, to be talking about how his band's latest record, "Define The Great Line," is one part in a series of manouevers he hopes will propel the southern rockers from screamo, cult-phenoms, to arena-filling hardcore thrashers.

Swigging from a bottle of water on one of the year's warmest days, though, Gillespie says the Tampa sextet, whose last record - 2004's "They're Only Chasing Safety" - sold nearly 400,000 copies with little airplay, approached the new disc as if no one had heard of them before.

"If we had made another 'Chasing Safety,' I don't know how long we would've been around," he says, before heading to a soundcheck for that evening's Warped Tour pre-party at the Mod Club. "You see bands all the time making the same record twice. And after awhile, if you keep doing the same thing over and over, it becomes more and more diluted, until finally you don't have anything left. You're making songs for the sake of making songs. You're not writing material that you're passionate about and believe in."

Glancing out onto Richmond Street, he continues. "We wanted to play songs that people can latch on to and believe in and make real in their life. I don't want to write music so it can get played on radio or make the guy in the suit happy."

Joining Atlanta-based producer/ drummer Matt Goldman, a founding member of Blue Man Group, and Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, what the group - which also features Grant Brandell (bass), Spencer Chamberlain (vocals), Chris Dudley (keyboards), Tim McTague (guitar) and James Smith (guitar) - was interested in, was drafting a record similar to Alexisonfire's "Watch Out!" One that would blend Chamberlain's George Pettit-style shrieks, with Gillespie's own Dallas Green-ish melodic stylings, but in an inspired, wholly unique way.

"Matt and Adam really got what we were trying to do," Gillespie says, recalling the album's genesis earlier this year in Massachusetts and Georgia. "It's the easiest recording experience I've ever had."

Dropping hard-edged statements of purpose ("In Regards To Myself," "You're Ever So Inviting"), paeans to Christianity ("Moving For The Sake Of Motion," "There Could Be Nothing After This"), and their own bits of uplifting metalcore ("To Whom It May Concern"), Gillespie says the record - the band's second with Chamberlain since original lead singer, Dallas Taylor, split in 2003 - still isn't easy to pin down.

"We knew that we didn't want to make songs that were simple," he explains. "We're really not a band that says, 'We want to write a song that's three-and-a-half-minutes long, we want it to have this guitar bridge, this type of feel, we want it to be in 5/4 time and we want it to end here like this with a bang,'" he adds, thudding his hand on the table. "We don't really do that."

"I disagree, sometimes ninety five percent, with everyone in Underoath's musical tastes. But it's that five percent that makes us who we are."

"There are six of us here, and we're at totally different stages in our lives, but when it all comes together, it's magical."

And with their spot on this summer's Warped Tour inked months ago, Gillespie says that the festival, which in its 11-year run has became punk-rock's favourite annual road show, is the best spot for them to road test their evolving hardcore sounds.

"We've never really done the whole thing proper," he laments. "A few years ago we did it on a tiny stage, but we missed a bunch of dates because we had this bus that had a million miles on it and was breaking down all the time. Last year, we only did half the shows because we were in the midst of writing for this new disc. So, this is our first year doing the whole Warped Tour from end to end."

"It's like summer camp," he continues with a nod. "But at the same time, there are a lot of artists that have broken out on Warped. Bands like My Chemical Romance really took people by storm when they did it."

Since forming in the late '90s the group, which has gone through several lineup changes, has had to deal with being outspoken Christians singing in a genre that houses unholy metalheads like Slipknot. But Gillespie says that as Underoath's career has continued, he's come to realize that music fans are far more open to the band's clean cut ways.

"In this day and age, people are a lot more receptive to different messages," he says. "We're all Christians. That's what we believe in. That's who we are. And I want everyone to know that. But at the same time, if you don't want to take that away from this, that's OK."

He smiles - a little tentative, as if he's not sure he wants to say this, then continues. "Besides, we've sold about this many records in the Christian market," he says, holding his index finger and thumb a centimeter apart. "So, obviously people from all walks of life, whether they're Buddhists, Atheists or Scientologists can appreciate what we're singing about."

Here are Underoath's Canadian tour dates:

July 18th: Warped Tour -- Thunderbird Stadium, Vancouver

July 20th: Warped Tour -- Race City Speedway, Calgary

August 12th: Warped Tour -- Park Place, Barrie

August 13th: Warped Tour -- Parc Hean-Drapeau, Montreal