I have a lot of fond memories of Erase Me. I know the band doesn't love it and people generally think its kind of lame. On My Teeth, No Frame, and I Gave Up are top tier UO for me. I was at a lot of festivals for work at that time and caught their set a ton. No Frame live was truly new territory for them. Lol tim would get on the sample pad and act like an EDM artist vibing. I was at the Tampa arena show Anberlin made their comeback set and that was a really cool bookend to that era of the band. It is not their best by a long shot, but I loved seeing them get a ton of attention from die-hards and casual fans.
Erase Me is an incredibly safe record compared to the rest of their discography but No Frame is easily one of the coolest songs they’ve ever made Chris went stupid hard on it
Regarding my Disambiguation post yesterday, I forgot to mention how insanely cool the drums sound on the chorus of Illuminator.
It’s the opposite of safe tho. They knew their fanbase was going to be mixed against it and it sounds nothing like anything else they did.
regarding disambiguation in general. I think swapping out Aaron for Daniel fixed underoath on so many levels.
i got that stories album for free in a rise records cd blind box deal years ago and they immediately reminded me of underoath, makes sense now..
I mean fixed might be too strong a word. Solved? Improved? Allowing Spencer to do all cleans and screams works better along with having a drummer that is just trying to make cool parts and serve the song. Having to navigate writing songs and parts for Aaron because he was a good singer dilutes some song’s flow and vibe. I’m not anti tocs/dtgl/litsos, just pro disambiguation as them perfecting their sound without Aaron.
I don’t think the fan base ever would have truly loved that record for how much of a departure it was but if you take out rapture and wake me the entire vibe of the album changes. Add loneliness in place of 1 and it’s even better. In a fairer world It Has To Start Somewhere would be regarded as the top tier opener it is, live and on record.
Daniel brought us a fresh take on what UO could be in a different reality. For myself, I couldnt get past the point of Aaron not being a part of it and it soured it for me at the time. I wish they continued down that creative rabbit hole with Daniel. Dude writes some interesting drum parts and is a creative genius.
Side note: saw Aaron play as the Almost a few days ago in Chicago and it’s very strange that he emphasizes wanting to play an Underoath cover during his set (especially having a sizable Almost discography)
Maybe I’m the odd one out here… I love Disambiguation but in my ranking it’s definitely below DTGL, LITSOS, and Voyeurist. Its great, one I put on pretty regularly, but doesn’t hit the same spot for me.
Its definitely too early for me to give a ranking since I really just got into this band a couple of weeks ago. But listening through their entire discography and returning to them basically daily, their catalog kinda reminds me of how Deftones' is. There's one clear top album and one clear bottom album, but still every album ranges from good to great. I don't think there's any sort of ranking for either band that could shock me (unless you didnt have White Pony or LITSOS is your top 3).
I mean these days I don’t see how you could argue LITSOS isn’t as good as Disambiguation. Both are great. Disambiguation is a phenomenal album but Aaron’s drumming chops are every bit as good as Daniel’s. I hated the direction they went on Erase Me but “thorn” alone still tells me they’ve got the juice that’s probably my favorite underoath song besides moving for the sake of motion and in completion