Underoath - The Place After This One (March 28, 2025) Album • Page 33

LITSOS was a disappointment for me at the time. I remember thinking Desperate Times, Desperate Measures was safe, and it's a sentiment that was echoed by a lot of people from what I recall in the ap.net comment section and in other places. It's only when they started playing Breathing In A New Mentality live, followed by putting out The Only Survivor on myspace and getting to hear the snippets of the other songs that had leaked through a torrent, that I was hyped for the album again. Still, it didn't live up to the unfairly huge expectations I had.

It's funny in retrospect considering how much they've changed since, but I remember being mad that there were entire sections in songs where Tim just didn't play anything other than 0-0-0-0 riffs, with Coming Down Is Calming Down being the worst offender. I'd be like "where's the riffs!?", which is quite ironic considering it's become a common complaint in the fanbase since their return.

I also remember feeling like they, deep down, wanted to explore much darker sounds they allowed themselves to and that, in contrast, Aaron's parts didn't sound as natural as they did on DTGL. Some of them sounded tacked on to my ears, like the end of Anyone Can Dig. Lastly, it bummed me out that Spencer went from exploring what felt like every single nuance of his screaming range to mostly going for a more monotonous, growlish tone.

I know it's not a fair representation of what he actually does in the album, considering it was at the time the most he had ever done clean vocals as well, but it's what it sounded like for a long time for me. Of course, I never felt that way about his performances on a record since, with Disambiguation blowing my mind partly due to him.

At the end, the record grew on me and it's a fucking great body of work, but that particular feeling I had when I first put it on did color my perception forever. This is why I'll always put Disambiguation and DTGL above it. Hell on some days, I know it'll be a wild take for many of you, but I'd even rather listen to Voyeurist than LITSOS. I was onboard with Voyeurist as soon as Damn Excuses came out and that whole single run followed with Digital Ghost didn't only feel like a course correction after Erase Me but also like a victory lap. So yeah, first impressions do matter more than I realize. That's why I'm a bit baffled when I think about how they rolled out this album at times, its single picks being the most questionable thing about that.

One thing that's funny about expectations is that the image I built in my head about what LITSOS was going to sound like is what Disambiguation actually ended up being, even though without Aaron.

 

I'm definitely in the minority here as Desperate Times, Desperate Measures has been my favourite song by them since the first time I heard it lol

it's not their heaviest or wildest work but to me it's the most well-put together and balanced thing they ever put out. love the post-apocalyptic vibes and the mix of super catchy stuff with borderline industrial shit (on Emergency Broadcast) and the ambient stuff on the closer. idk just to me it's always the first record I reach for when I'm in the mood for these guys

 

Yeah the post-apocalyptic vibes descriptor is right on the money. It's what I love the most about the album now and makes me believe it is their best sequenced out of their entire discography. A song like The Only Survivor really feels like being thrown right in the middle of total chaos, with slight moments of lightness in the melodic and sung parts. Then there's Desperate -> Too Bright to See -> Desolate Earth which is one of their best sequences as well. I love how the latter serves the same function as a coda in a story.

 

DTGL felt like the world was unraveling
LITSOS was the world actually unraveling
Disambiguation was living in an unraveled world

That’s how those three albums felt to me.

Too Bright to See & Desolate Earth was the dust settling from the chaos in DTGL and LITSOS, which flows into how dark and bleak Disambiguation was. That’s my TED Talk on Underoath.

 

I actually really like that apocalyptic approach between LITSOS and Disambig, I can totally see that. I think DTGL is more of a person unraveling rather than the world around them and I also think it's perpetuated through the different artworks of the album. Chris has mentioned that he wanted to nail the artworks around someone losing themselves mentally.

I feel like my mind flip flops between DTGL and LITSOS as my favorite, but I always look at it like DTGL has the better stand-alone songs while LITSOS is the better cohesive album. Comparing a song between the two proves DTGL has the better hitters, but LITSOS as a whole just flows so storyline effortlessly. So at the end of the day, they are both equally 9.5/10 but for different reasons.

I didn't get into this band until pretty late in their prime. I had heard the DTGL singles on MTV's Top 8 and never really dove too deep into them until Disambig was gearing up for release. At that point I was obsessed with that album and did a whole discog run of Spencer-years and fell in love. Discovering LITSOS as a whole was incredible.

 

pretty wild to think a lot of the synth / ambient stuff we hear on their records is chris using iphone apps.

 

Also, my POTATO regular vinyl and deluxe vinyl came in. Turns out they are the same exact jacket, but the deluxe has a thermal layer of top of it for an extra $20. Not sure what I expected but would've been cool to have more considering Erase Me had an extensive deluxe release and even Voyeurist had a distinctive deluxe.

Regardless, can't wait to spin it either tonight or this weekend. I've been waking up singing Devil.

 

Like many have said the lyrics on And Then There Was Nothing are somewhat cringe but whatever Tim and Chris are doing is so cool I don’t care.

 

This legit keeps getting better and better. Devil is such an insane track.

 

That’s hilarious since I got the Deluxe version. I wish it also came with the Zine. One of the things I enjoyed about BandBox (RIP) was the Zine that came with the record, would have been rad to have the one they sold with the CD Deluxe version.

 

imo, the deluxe package for Voyeurist is about the same level of deviation from the original as the deluxe for TPATO, same jacket with slightly modified artwork to activate some sort of unique feature (interlaced image activated with a plastic slipcover compared to thermal ink). the deluxe for Erase Me is a trifold jacket with a slipcover and giant booklet, compared to the standard - a thinner single-sleeve jacket with no booklet and a printed inner sleeve with a cutout.

 

The Voyeurist Deluxe was only $10 more than the regular press and at least was a different printed gatefold jacket. Erase Me deluxe warranted the price because of how much more was included. TPATO is literally a $20 thermal sticker on a regular cover.

 

true, but the printing difference is only on the outside and just to activate the interlaced art with the slipcover. aside from that it's more or less the same as the standard (the image inside the gatefold is identical). but i do agree with you that the $20 upcharge for a thermal sticker is stupid. $10 i get, but $20 is greedy.

 

Also just laying out facts, Voyeurist regular edition was $24 back in 2021. TPATO is $34.98.

That's more of a criticism of the vinyl industry than on Øath. Crazy to see that jump in 4 years. Glad I jumped out of the UØ variant collecting when I did and I've seriously toned back on vinyl purchases as a whole.

 

for sure. i've only purchased 3 or 4 records this year.

 

I decided to throw on Erase Me this morning, and I think this album is finally clicking with me. Hold Your Breath absolutely rocks.

 

I gave erase me a few listens over the last week for the first time in a while and I think TPATO’s existence and execution makes erase me look even worse in the grand discog but it’s still an underrated record. Listened to it nonstop when it came out.

 

maybe it's just because i have my turntable connected to my surround setup, but the vinyl mix of All the Love is Gone really elevates the song to new heights. Spencer's vocals sound massive during the chorus, and the electronics have a bit more depth.

 

Yeah, I ordered the deluxe (at full price) and can confidently say it was not worth the extra money.

 

I'm getting Outsider stuck in my head more and more. I'm particularly drawn to the siren sounding synth that pops up here and there. It reminds me of the synth work in No Devotion and gives the song an eerie feel despite the slightly mellower and dreamier soundscape surrounding it.

Would love to hear them expand on that + No Frame next.

 

The more I listen to this, the more I feel like it trumps Voyeurist through and through. These sounds have such a frenetic energy to it. Love it

 

i have been returning to this a lot more than i expected i must say. spinning in place is so sick

 

It’s good

 

Still hasn't left the rotation for me, and I listen to so much these days that is really rare.

 

Agreed. I’m not usually a fan of the like industrial guitar tones but this is really working for me