Underoath - Erase Me (April 6, 2018) Album • Page 152

Yeah, I turn off retweets when all bands do is constantly RT positive things about their music. I'm following you, I already know I like some part of your music. RTing someone else saying it isn't going to make me like it more.

EDIT: two offenders with this are Have Mercy and Transit. There seems to be some self validation needed there in order to feel good about your art.

 

Retweeting positive opinions is really annoying. I feel like responding to criticism occasionally is understandable sometimes if people are putting it right on your Facebook or whatever, but it’s kinda dumb and pointless to do that with every comment you get. I also haven’t looked at Underoath’s social media accounts, so I don’t really know what they’re doing in that regard

 

That’s obviously a good philosophy to have but when a lot of artists, not just spencer, say it it feels like a bit of a cop out. For UO in particular, who wrote 4 very different albums, I think it’s clear as day nobody wanted “the same record over and over.” The fans wanna be challenged too, the problem the fans have is they don’t feel challenged by pop, at least not in the same way. And I think that’s a fair critique. My personal issue with the album isn’t the quality of the songs, tho there are some gripes. My issue is I had a craving for new heavy music that this won’t quite fill. And that’s fine too. The point of all this is to say bands sometimes misrepresent others’ critiques just so they can make an enlightened sounding quip like the above. In the end, I do think going poppier is safe. If they released disambiguation last week it wouldn’t have charted #4.

 

My favorite part is:

"If you loved ‘Chasing Safety’ or ‘Define The Great Line’ when they came out, you probably don’t listen to that stuff anymore. All those people have grown, so why is it so quote-unquote disrespectful to our fans if we’ve grown as well? If you can move forward and broaden your horizons, why can’t a band? We’re not 18-year-old kids anymore, we’re going to do what makes us happy, and I think people will be able to hear that.”

I love this so much.

 

I think the problem is that most people wouldn't say this is more "mature" music. Most times when bands go for simpler sounding music it seems to be a cash grab. From what I've read though, this really is just what Spencer and Aaron (and Tim, I guess) wanted to write. I'm playing a little devil's advocate here, I enjoy the album, but I usually don't enjoy stuff this close to whatever modern rock genre this is.

 

I get all your points and can understand the critiques you have for sure. The album definitely doesn't fill the heavy void, and moments on ihateit and loneliness make me wish for sure it had more of that.

 

agreed. its always easy to say bands grow and mature, but those terms shouldn't be as synonymous with "poppier" as they are. obviously we want our bands to be successful, but as i said above, when they call it simple maturity it feels disingenuous. same concept as when people say "if you want heavy you can listen to their old stuff." well, if i wanted poppy i can listen to pop music. theres a lot more of that lol.

of course, i say all this as a big fan of the record. just airing some grievances i think about a lot lol.

 

Having seen UO 3 times over the years, id love for them to do a tour where they play Erase Me in full

 

I think of bands like Thursday and Deftones when I think growth from album to album. PBTT recently as well. I've just been duped too many times by people claiming "growth" or that going to a less heavy sound is more "mature", but honestly, they just aren't good at making lighter music most of the time.

 

I love this album and I could care less if someone else doesn't like it. not going to effect how I view it at all. so yea, people can come in here with negative opinions but I'm not gonna let it take away from how I feel about the record. If you are letting that get to you than you will never enjoy any album ever bc theres never a record that everyone loves.

 

My attempt at a setlist. At work so I really couldn't spend too much on it.

1. On My Teeth
2. Reinventing Your Exit
3. In Regards to Myself
4. Bloodlust
5. Returning Empty Handed
6. Rapture
7. No Frame
8. Desperate Times
9. Illuminator
10. Hold Your Breath
11. Catch Myself Catching Myself
12. I Got 10 Friends…
13. You’re Ever So Inviting
14. Moment Suspended in Time
15. Too Bright To See, Too Loud To Hear
16. Boy Brushed Red
17. I Gave Up

------

1. Writing on the Walls
2. It’s Dangerous Business

 

sophos is a grower

 

I think the fact that a lot of people who started out disliking this record or being indifferent to it are now really liking shows it is the textbook definition of a grower. Obviously it's not gonna grow on everybody. Hell if you don't like it by all means don't listen to it again. There are gonna be people who dislike this. That's just how music works. But I think at this point, it's pretty safe to say it has grown on quite a lot of people.

 

imo i liked it from the start and i'm always right

 

I just wanted to let everyone know that an Underoath bracket started today (starting with The Changing of Times) if anyone is interested:

Reinventing Your Bracket (Underoath Brackets)

 

Clip of recording Bloodlust

 

It's also entirely possible for people not to like the album and fans need to be okay with that. The "this album sucks" posts don't really contribute much to conversation but also saying "it's a grower/you don't understand the album/etc." is just as irritating.

I like the album a lot but completely understand why people don't. It's not what I expected but luckily my taste in music has changed that this album still does appeal to me. That said, for people that don't share my taste or were hoping for something else.. I completely understand the disappointment.

We're here for discussion and I love having discussions with people that don't share my opinion or taste. Let's just all avoid the hive-mind mentality and unproductive "this album sucks" "no it doesn't suck, you suck, your music taste sucks" types of conversations I see all too often..

 

A lot of us are guilty of doing the “yeah well you like (insert artist/album here) so who cares what u say” maybe not word for word but it happens. Getting defensive over an album/band you love is ok and shows you’re rly passionate but it can certainly go too far and can lead to weird gatekeeping or straw-man logic. I think we’ve all been guilty of that at some point.

THAT SAID rly kinda thought this would grow on me and it hasn’t and I’ve tried to let it grow on me. I’ve had it for a little while now, I think I got it like a week before it released, and it just isn’t doing it for me. Don’t care for Aaron’s vocals, don’t care for the mostly w/e lyrics, don’t rly like any of the instrumentation although I’m glad Dudley still has a few moments to shine. Just isn’t for me.

 

Also, I just got a merchnow shipment notification for my Black Deluxe that was delayed.. STOKED

 

Man you should have led with that. I agree across the board, but you may have dodged the meme machine with some content in the first post.

 

ihateit sounds like what boy bands would have put out if metal was the next step in their evolution.*

I can picture the sweeping hand choreography already.

*or maybe a puddle of mudd song? A spiritual successor to "She Fucking Hates Me"?

 

damn I would really love that boy band hook than.

 

That's what I keep coming back to about this album. I don't enjoy it (and I'm glad people do, I suppose), but Aaron and Spencer constantly arguing with people online about it shows such an insecurity about what they put out (imo).

 

I like ihateit bc i feel like lyrically its about being pushed to the brink by drugs. You've spent your whole life letting this addiction control you and no matter how hard you try nothing else can fill that void. by the end you are spent and you just want god to erase you.. pretty heavy stuff. So yea if a boyband wrote a song that i connected to at that level than i would absolutely listen to it

 

It seems more like using drugs as a metaphor for a relationship? Otherwise Spencer's really gone full 'literal' with his songwriting?

And re: boy band. I meant the melody. It's so sing-songy it loses any possible meaning or weight for me. In fact, that's a pretty good way to sum up how I feel about the album as a whole. People keep talking about how these are Spencers 'most honest lyrics ever' but that's only because he kept saying it in interviews. Lyrically it feels pretty cliche and shallow, and the pop-rock genre doesn't help elevate them at all.