Underoath - Erase Me (2018)Release ID: 33365
Before this album, They’re Only Chasing Safety was Underoath's black sheep sh*t for the metalheads who wanted to hear their heavier material. They would gradually redeem their heaviness, album by album, before reaching the explosive perfection of Ø (Disambiguation), a different dark chapter. They've really unleashed the fury that their metalcore sound should've had, and it's the only album without key member Aaron Gillespie, which might explain some. It was long thought to be their final form due to their breakup, but then they've reunited. However, while their comeback album was a bittersweet return, it's more emphasized on the bitter...
Erase Me really let down metalheads' hopes. You might blame Gillespie and his teen-boy-like clean voice, but I don't think it's totally his fault. His vocals and drumming have improved since the past, and he still has his talent from Lost in the Sound of Separation. Underoath was trying to catch up with the metal scene at the time, but ultimately chose to turn their back on the scene. Their blazing dissonant metalcore of crushing riff passion was thrown away for a more drastic and worse changing of times. Whatever happened to their post-hardcore ideas? Y'know, their balances of screams and cleans, and harmonies and rhythms, all in a metallic cauldron. They're pushed aside for hardcore-less alternative rock with the poppy remnants of They’re Only Chasing Safety resurrected.
If you see any songs missing from my track-to-track analysis, it's because they're pretty bad. I definitely didn't wanna have to start badly with mild choruses of "Rapture". The first good track here, "On My Teeth" adds near-heavy riffing into the atmosphere, along with the band's first ever swearing (they dumped their Christian beliefs during their reformation). "Wake Me" is not something for you metal listeners to like. "Bloodlust" is catchy, but they've barely put any effort there.
Another song "Sink With You" barely goes anywhere. Enough with those poor aspects, let's skip to "Hold Your Breath", one of the very few good tracks here, sounding much better than all those other weak tracks. You'll never expect me to like "No Frame" that is a complete waste of time, especially in the last 30 seconds. I'm really not sure what the band was thinking with all these songs with barely any vision. At this point, I'm giving up on this analysis, which is convenient because the album's last and the one with the lowest b*lls for the band is "I Gave Up". Yep, that's what I'm doing.
Really, I'm not sure which direction Underoath wanted to take. Like I said, they've lost their Christianity, and while that's a big step to change their identity, I think they've really changed that, and then some. Erase Me is more of an alternative rock album with barely any traces of post-hardcore, let alone metalcore. Good production, just ineffective writing. Those heavy influences and Chamberlain's vocal development seemed abandoned, but their next recent album would show what they could do to make amends....
Favorites (only songs I like from this album): "On My Teeth", "Hold Your Breath"