You would think that Erase Me, the first new Underoath album in eight years and first with original drummer Aaron Gillespie in ten years would be a great comeback. But alas, it has some slight missteps.
If you expect this album to sound like They’re Only Chasing Safety, you’re going to be disappointed. Think of Erase Me as a heavier version of Lost In The Sound Of Seperation, which is my favorite album from the group. However, while Underoath sounds heavier, they also sound angrier, even adding words like “fuck” into their lyrics. They’re obviously not a Christian band anymore. So does this change help or hurt Underoath on Erase Me? Let’s find out.
On the opening track “It Has To Start Somewhere”, it starts off sounding like an Underoath track, but then vocalist Spencer Chamberlain starts to sprinkle in elements from his band Sleepwave (the group he made during Underoath’s break) and it’s kind of distracting. Look Spencer, Underoath is back together now, let Sleepwave die. And that’s a major problem with this album. It’s like Spencer wanted Erase Me to be the follow up to Sleepwave’s 2014 debut Broken Compass (listen to that album first and then listen to Erase Me, trust me on this ok?)
Sleepwave once again shows up on songs like “Rapture”, “Wake Me”, “ihateit”, “Hold Your Breath”, hell, nearly the whole album. If you really wanted a new Sleepwave album Spencer, you could’ve just made one without dragging the rest of Underoath into it. I can’t even blame Fearless Records (Ice Nine Kills, Starset, Wage War) for this, this is the band’s doing.
Even with all the bad songs, there’s still some diamonds in the rough. Tracks like “It Has To Start Somewhere”, “Rapture”, “On My Teeth”, and “In Motion”, co-written by John Feldmann (Blink-182, Goldfinger, MAKEOUT), stand out for actually sounding like an Underoath song. It’s a damn shame that only these four songs stood out to me for sounding like something that wasn’t made for the second Sleepwave album that we’ll never get.
On the plus side, Aaron’s drumming is once again remarkable. “It Has To Start Somewhere”, “On My Teeth”, and “Bloodlust” are some of the songs that show truly how incredible this man is on the drums. Thank god he’s no longer the touring drummer for Paramore. Producer Matt Squire’s (3OH!3, All Time Low, This Providence) handiwork on Erase Me is wonderful, showing that he can turn some of the worst lemons into the finest lemonade.
In my opinion, I do like the new angrier and heavier Underoath, but I really wish that Spencer would keep Sleepwave out of Underoath. The lyrics still sound like the same Underoath that we’ve grown to love since 1997. Maybe on their next album they could try and tone down on the Sleepwave material. Not every song has to be a discount Nine Inch Nails song.
You can see Underoath play songs off of Erase Me and other albums on their Nø Fix Tour with Dance Gavin Dance, Veil Of Maya, and Limbs, when it comes to Niagara Falls, NY, on Saturday, May 12, at the haunted Rapids Theatre.
Punk Goes Prenatt 