Underoath - Erase Me (April 6, 2018) Album • Page 63

Way over 140 characters.

Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso

 

and mother of dragons

 

Never really listened to Underoath much outside of a cursory listen through their discography, but I like the new songs a fair amount. Gonna have to go back to the other albums in the next few weeks

 

Yeah, idk, like it’s true that some fans are going to hate a change in a band’s direction no matter what, and that’s happening here to some degree. However, that’s really not how I operate (or at least not how I have been for a very long time now). I am down for a change in direction from this band, and this kind of direction actually makes a ton of sense if they want to have a better chance at having a long-lasting reunion. They clearly want to try and ride some of the wave that bands like BMTH are on and achieve a new level of success. I don’t fault them for that. I also don’t mean to take anything away from anyone who likes this song, I’m genuinely really happy you do— it’s a much better feeling to love something than to hate it imo, especially if it’s a new song from your favorite band.

I just really think they have better songs in them, even in this style, I think they have the potential to make better songs that are maybe even more appealing to mainstream audiences than this one is. I do have faith that there will be better songs on this record, and if they go on to make more albums in the future, they’ll get even better at writing songs in this direction.

This song honestly kinda sounds like growing pains to me, and I see what they were going for but think the execution is just....... not great, for lack of better words. They’re doing so many things here that just really bother me, and are symptomatic of bands trying to move in a more accessible direction (but not quite nailing it). Like idk how to put it other than it seems like they’re sacrificing creativity for simplicity/catchiness and it really doesn’t have to be like that.

The lyrics come across as forced, particularly the rhyming, and combining that with subject matter that strikes me as being sleazy, they’re just a huge turn off all around, personally speaking. I find the melodies to be kinda generic, if admittedly catchy, they don’t have a “wow factor” to them. And I’m just not getting enough out of the other instruments to help make up for the major hang ups I have with the aforementioned elements.

I wrote way more than I meant to here, lol sorry.

 

So, I've been listening to Underoath since before TOCS (not much before, but I had the Changing of Times CD and took notice when Dallas left). And I did so basically because at that point in my life, the 'Christian' label of band was the single most important thing to my 18-19 year old self.

In all that time listening to the band, I've never thought of them as anything BUT a band that changes and evolves constantly. Every record sounds markedly different; every era has a different genre they fit into. And - as Spencer points out in that new interview - they separated from the Christian market and scene in 2009. So even their presented attitude/ethos/message has changed. More than anything else, Underoath=change.

To me, then, if you're a person who can honestly say you love every Underoath song or record, that's just about blind luck. Because they're all uniquely different from one another. They aren't a band who has a sound and then just builds off that and reliably come back to that same core each and every time. That just isn't them. (And this paragraph can go for all sorts of long time bands, like Weezer or Linkin Park or Fall Out Boy or a hundred others - lots of bands change and experiment and make records that sound totally different over time.)

The fans freaking out about a new direction - musically, or lyrically, or thematically, or productionally - simply are telling me, 'we're ignorant of what Underoath was always about.' Which doesn't make their criticisms any less difficult, but to echo Spencer - it isn't the band's fault that people chose not to listen this whole time.

 

Listen to “Rapture” and I actually kind of dig it now. Nice.

 

actually I think I like this song now.. haha

 

To relate this all to Fall Out Boy since they got brought up, it's such a similar thing if you think about it. I have always been quick to criticize their change because it wasn't the direction I wanted them to go in, but I have followed their transformation because they meant a lot to me when I was younger and can now see the similarities with current underoath in them making the music they want to. People freak out a little every time they put out a new record and continue in the direction they are going in (for better or worse depending on what you think of their current sound) but if they had been on an 8 year hiatus instead of a couple years? Imagine the backlash if they went straight from FUTCT in 2005 to SRAR in 2013. Fans would probably be in complete shock (well, even more so than they have been haha) and would be putting up a lot of the same arguments against it and honestly i dunno if their trajectory would have changed any since this is where they are at now musically.

I guess what i am saying in my rambling thoughts is that I am quick to defend the band because I don't mind the direction and am just glad they are making music again, but at the same time can see both sides. I understand both where the band is at and why some fans aren't completely on board.

 

Yes. Also, I don't like the song

 

http://www.themetalistza.co.za/album-review/album-review-underoath-erase-me/

Yager: 'Erase Me' by Underoath packs a punch

Two reviews of the album!

 

Not gonna lie reading Spencer didn't want another "Disambiguation" in the sense of going weirder/following that path or whatever made me cry a little on the inside. Seems he was impacted by how people viewed that album since he mentioned he doesn't wanna write a song people would only hear once.

 

I kinda wish the songs played thru at the pace they do for the last chorus.

Favorite part of both songs.

 

I think my favorite part of Rapture is the chorus/post chorus. The chorus is catchy enough on its own merit and then the post chorus adds interesting elements. Aaron's vocals on the bridge are fantastic. The versus are the weakest part of the song for me. I do wish they did a little more with them (and actually it's more the first verse, as the second verse changes things up a little bit and is better imo) but the rest of the song is strong enough to make up for it.

 

As someone who thought their last 3-4 albums sounded too much the same I'm digging this direction and diversity alot after hearing both songs so far

 

I can't tell aaron and spencer apart in this one.. Loving the drum sounds on this record so far though

At this point in my life if this record is a solid gym listen then I am super excited

 

It’s pretty crazy they can have that much internal strife over direction and still put out the last 3 records. Also if we couldn’t have UO I’d totally have been on board for a spencer/Aaron project and a heavy tim side project.

I read this in the epic rap battle of history voice/tune haha

 

Often the greatest art is born out of conflict.

 

I wish these songs featured more Aaron.

 

I liked Rapture on first listen. The chorus is catchy.

 

I think Spencer tweeted that if you listen to Rapture/On My Teeth back to back like the album they make more sense. I did that, and it made me like Rapture a bit more, but it does reveal the "sound" I guess.

 

Jordan shared that info during his run down of Low Teens on Twitter:

 

Side note: what is DD doing now? He isn't in ETID anymore right? Dude elevated every album he's been on.

 

i'm a still little wary about "rapture" on relisten, the best thing i can say about it is that i don't hate it, but i'm also excited for other, more confident variations of this sound. (i guess that's what bothers me about "rapture," there's a tentativeness in its writing. the opening riff is super badass though i gotta say)

 

also after spending a few weeks with it imo "on my teeth" is a Certified Banger™

 

overall i'm disappointed that they didn't pursue the sound of disambiguation further but i'm also totally cool with them being a completely different band eight years later. honestly i like being surprised like this