Underoath has just put out their new album since reassembling the band after their break up and farewell tour in 2012–13. Needless to say, fans were stoked to dive into the new album Erase Me once it appeared. Sadly, it’s mostly a dud. The album is very formulaic. Each song is bite-sized; the longest track is not even five minutes. Most songs clock in at 3.5 minutes. Everything about the album seems suited as hard rock designed for the radio. There are repetitious choruses, obvious structural patterns consistent across the album (opening, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus), etc. None of the Tracks have an unconventional structure outside of Track 9, “No Frame.” But even there it’s nothing like their former albums, which contained songs that genuinely developed and unfolded as the song progressed, rather than cyclically turning back in on itself like all the Radio Ga Ga out there in the mainstream music scene. The best Tracks on this album are decent hard rock Tracks (esp. Tracks 1 and 3), but nothing rises to the level of awesome.
Given the change in style, in what sense is this an Underoath album? Fans will decry the new sound as not fitting the band. I tend to agree with that, and I don’t actually like the new style to be honest, but bands evolve all the time. Underoath’s style has changed so much with each album. Act of Depression and Cries of the Past are standard Hardcore albums with clear influence from Death Metal. The shift to The Changing of Times clearly maintains this same sound overall, but the music begins to progress in a melodic trajectory, and Aaron’s clean vocals are introduced in some nice choruses (e.g. “When the Sun Sleeps”). None of these albums sound anything like the subsequent one: They’re Only Chasing Safety. That is the album that made the band famous, and it was Spencer Chamberlain’s first album as the frontman. It is way more Poppy and Emo in style. The Death Metal influence of the earlier albums is traded in for a Pop Post-Hardcore vibe. But then Define the Great Line and Lost in the Sound of Separation, crank it up in a more Metalcore direction (with what sounds like influence from Norma Jean’s brand of chaotic Hardcore and Metalcore that highlights dissonance). So then, to claim that Erase Me is too different from previous material loses sight of the fact that Underoath’s music has never been static and has been constantly evolving over the years.
I saw Underoath in concert once in Las Vegas during the height of their musical brilliance. The memory that sticks out to me most vividly from the whole set was when the guitarist (Tim McTague) climbed up onto a large speaker situated on the side of the stage, looked down, pointed directly at me, and fell backwards right onto me all while continuing to play the guitar as I held him up with the help of others around me. And that will go down as one of the most memorable things to happen to me at a show in my long list of crazy concert experiences.
That was a long time ago; probably sometime during my junior or senior year of High School. Things have changed; my feelings towards the band have changed, their style has changed, and, sadly, their Christian ethos has also changed.
Undoubtedly, beyond the change in style, it’s the lyrics on the new album that are the most striking feature. Quite a bit of profanity can be found on here. As readers may know, I’ve been quite clear that this is mostly unremarkable to me (within reason). See my defense of P.O.D. and Mumford & Sons. But Erase Me is perhaps more on the gratuitous side, and to be frank the only reason why I view it as a concern is because of branding. This is accentuated by the fact that the lyrics actively probe the lead singer’s (Spencer Chamberlain’s) Christian past with some cynicism (to put it mildly). The album is essentially an audial mosaic of drug abuse, strained relationships, and the loss of faith.
The opening Track (“It Has To Start Somewhere”) contains the cry, “This is so damn useless,” in a song that is slightly ambiguous. It might be about prayer, but it’s not clear. It’s hard to tell if Spencer is singing about a friend or family member, or about God. In favor of the track being directed to God are lines like “don’t need your grace,” which, if referring to God’s grace, makes the next line—”you weren’t listening anyway”—seem like Spencer’s frustration with unanswered prayer. Hence, “this is so damn useless.” At one point Spencer even yells “Please God give me a chance,” which might ultimately confirm this interpretation. However, “God” in Underoath’s lyrics since Chamberlain’s tenure began is often not used for direct address, but exclamation. For example, recall the opening line from Define the Great Line: “Wake up, wake up, my God, this is not a test!” (Track 1, “In Regards To Myself”). Or elsewhere on the same album: “Oh God, everything all around me is crumbling…” (Track 3, “There Could Be Nothing After This”). Given Spencer does use “God” to amplify an exclamation elsewhere, I think that this opening Track from Erase Me is probably not directed to God, but to someone that he felt he was not able to connect to in the midst of his struggles.
But if you one wants proof positive that Underoath has gone down an unbiblical route, note that the next Track is a song about the Rapture! ; )
All jokes aside, this Track (“Rapture”) seems representative of the way that the album incorporates Christian language into a more sinister and perhaps sarcastic framework. In fact, this is the irony of the album. In many ways it just might be the most religious album that Underoath has produced—given the overt and consistent references to Christian themes—and it is undoubtedly the most religious album within Spencer’s tenure. The plead from this Track seems like a veiled metaphor for death or perhaps even suicide, though it’s genuinely hard to tell: (“Lead me to the Rapture, set my body free, higher than the flames set blaze inside of me. There’s no turning back. There’s no coming down. I’m forever lost. There’s no coming down.”).
As Spencer reflects deeply on his recent desperation and turmoil being caught up in drugs, etc, he cries out in Track 7, “ihateit,” screaming: “God, erase me, I don’t deserve the life you give; God, can’t change at all, I don’t deserve the life you give.” As I’ve listened to this album over and over again, I’m so struck by this line, and my heart goes out to him. Prayerfully, I’m reminded of that line from “Great Are You Lord” by All Sons & Daughters, drawing upon Genesis 2, “It’s your breath in our lungs so we pour out our praise to you only.” None of us deserves the life he gives, and yet he continues to give us his breath, and with it we can offer blessings or curses in return.
Contrast all of this this with “A Love So Pure” from the album Act of Depression. There we get the most straightforward Christian lyrics one could imagine, sung by their former frontman Dallas Taylor: “Jesus Christ, I love you” repeated again and again. To be sure, it’s not as if the theology is excellent in the more overtly Christian lyrics from their early albums. For example, in the same Track we hear that “My Father holds me in his nail-scarred hands,” which is blatant Sabellianism and Patripassianism. Though it is clear that their hearts are in the right place. This same album, Act of Depression, ends with the Track “Praise,” which is essentially a live recording of an altar call slash testimony slash gospel message, summoning the kids at the show to give their hearts to Jesus.
Things are obviously very different now with the new album. It’s not just that the style of the music has changed, but the band members themselves have changed. And despite the continuity of band members, Underoath was branded with a certain ethos that this album appears to directly undermine. Why did the band reunite under the same name just to break clean from everything that preceded? Why not give your group a new name to accompany the new style and perspective? Of course, the answer seems to be rooted in monetary concerns if we’re being honest. I don’t really mind that so much, but I am bothered by the fact that the lyrics seem so hopeless. I recognize that Spencer is being remarkably raw and real in this album, which I’m sure will resonate with many. There’s something commendable about that. But for a band that was known for evangelizing at shows in their early days, it’s hard to imagine that their newfound authenticity would fall short of providing some hope in the midst of struggle. The final track is ominously titled, “I Gave Up.”
Is this really the note they want to leave us on?
Erase Me would be an entirely forgettable album if it weren’t for the fact that Underoath is one of the biggest Hardcore bands out there and one of my personal favorites from some time ago. ‘Erase’ in the title Erase Me is an imperative, and I wonder if there’s some deeper meaning to the title. It’s as if they’re asking us to forget. Of course, the line is rooted in Spencer’s personal despair, but perhaps as the title of the album it also signals that they want us to forget their past, to forget their former branding, their former style, and their former Christianity. My own experience since diving into this record is actually the exact opposite; this album has made me go back to the old Underoath albums, esp. the ones with Spencer Chamberlain at the helm (They’re Only Chasing Safety, Define the Great Line, Lost in the Sound of Separation). It’s made me further appreciate those albums by their contrast with the new one on just about every level.
That is, by far, the best thing about Erase Me.
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