Underoath – “Erase Me” (Fearless Records)
After eight years since the release of Ø (Disambiguation), Underoath is back
with Erase Me, not with a vengeance
per say, but more with aplomb. While the faces are the same, the music has changed,
sounding closer to Bring Me the Horizon and I, Prevail than the Underoath of 10
years ago. It’s not all bad, trust me.
It only takes a few bars of Erase Me opener “It Has To Start Somewhere” for the dam of feels to
break and come flooding back - from Aaron Gillespie’s duel clean vocal/drumming
threat to Spencer Chamberlain’s unforgettable vocal delivery, but those feelings
come with a bit of a caveat – this isn’t the same Underoath of old. “Rapture”
and “On My Teeth” are two of the more commercially appealing tracks the band
has ever laid down, though “Bloodlust” and “Sink With You” provide the
nostalgic goods – frenetic guitars, memorable vocals and soaring hooks. The
pummeling “Hold Your Breath” is reason alone why we should all give a shit that
Underoath is back. This singular track delivers us the Underoath of old with
Gillespie and Chamberlain going tit for tat, trading off crushing bars for
melodic blissfulness. Some tracks sound like an extension of Chamberlain’s
Sleepwave project (“ihateit,” “Wake Me,” “No Frame”), but those tracks are few
and far between, thankfully. The penultimate “In Motion” finds Chamberlain
shredding his throat on wax, screaming “there is no fix” as the track fades
out. Timothy McTague and James Smith save some of their best guitar work for
last on the closing “I Gave Up,” which also features some killer programming
from Christopher Dudley.
If you’re tuning into Erase
Me expecting to hear “They’re Only Chasing Safety” or even “Define the
Great Line” era Underoath, chances are you’ll be sadly disappointed. It’s not a
perfect record by any means (you should expect a band to show some rust after
nearly a decade apart), but this looks to be the start of a new sonic path for
Underoath, which could be a good thing for all of us.
Go Download: “Hold Your Breath”
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