Underøath – ‘The Place After This One’
Underøath are back with their 10th album, The Place After This One. Here’s our review on what to expect from this colossus release.
Words by Will Oakeshott
“The unknown is merely an illusion; no matter how far we wander from home, we always discover something that resonates with us and stirs our souls.” - Bhuwan Thapaliya.
This astonishing Nepalese poet is a man seeking world peace. His works are coloured with the art and culture of Nepal, but he is prominently qualified as both an Oriental and Occidental poet, as his writings represent a brilliant bond between the traditions of the East and West. This adored author beholds immeasurable purpose, and that is to spread the message of global peace, universal solidarity and love.
In his travels, he has discovered beauty and inspiration from a vast array of influences, namely nature, statistics, politics, human behaviour, and so much more. A significant part of his creativity comes from the driving force known as “wanderlust”, or the need for exploration.
For Florida’s long-serving trailblazers of post metalcore and alternative music, Underøath, their 10th studio full-length, The Place After This One, strikes as being motivated by this impulse. Their successes are well-known and deserved, including three Grammy award nominations, two RIAA Gold certifications for their albums, They’re Only Chasing Safety and Define The Great Line respectively, as well as global charting sales, festival appearances and sold-out tours. However, as the fittingly titled The Place After This One LP somewhat conveys, the five-piece are not satisfied with the comfort of “knowing” their artistic classification. They want to push the boundaries of what Underøath is and means – they want to explore other soundscapes compelled by their integrity. The quintet has embraced their musical wanderlust with their latest momentous offering, and what a journey they have showcased for the world.
Opener ‘Generation No Surrender’ finds the Floridians at arguably their heaviest in years. A devastating discordance of angular post metalcore where vocalist Spencer Chamberlain truly shines, shrieking and growling in venomous hostility; he isn’t just aggressive in his delivery, he is breathing fire and it is awe-inspiring. The backing choir repeating his chant of “Generation No Surrender” does call upon electro-pop-metalcore juggernauts Bring Me The Horizon, especially their That’s The Spirit record. Undeniably, though, this is instantly recognisable as Underøath; their ‘Writing Is On The Walls’ of this cacophonous eruption.
‘Devil’ is a prime example of that exploration element discussed via poet Bhuwan Thapaliya – the “wanderlust”. This is more than just a cross-genre fusion, this is a literal musical mystification and brilliant brain twister. To begin, an electropunk wave washes over the listeners that The Prodigy would admire, then movements between alternative metal, house-driven-pop and nu metal almost capture this invigorating expedition. The astounding reality that must be acknowledged is that this baffling description doesn’t even qualify as a snapshot of what Underøath have remarkably accomplished. It is conceivably not of this universe, but this writer and countless more throughout planet Earth would assuredly undertake this intergalactic adventure, over and over again.
‘Loss’ returns to the dissonant melodic metalcore that is an integral part of their identity, yet the to-and-fro vocal dynamics between Chamberlain’s screams and drummer/clean singer Aaron Gillespie’s harmonies have never been so intense. The explosive breakdowns featured are impressively above earth-shattering. ‘Survivors Guilt’ is an outstanding oddity of electronic-indie-metal that is perplexing but exceedingly engaging. Then ‘All The Love Is Gone’ is unquestionably the most unexpected and peculiar artistic enterprise the five-piece have broadcast.
An EDM metallic pop party song that seems to revolve around topics of possibly remorse; it carries a charismatic, charming confusion that requires revisiting just to try and solve the puzzle. Perhaps a collaboration between Patrick Stump, Aphex Twin and Static-X provides some of the song’s blueprint, but this is only at the surface; its depth is vivaciously vexing.
‘And Then There Was Nothing’ is volcanic; a monstrous metalcore onslaught of brutality that Underøath melt faces and rock’n’roll with. Following up with a dance-pop number entitled ‘Teeth’ is ludicrous, yet the curveball does feature a devastating metallic boom that resonates and stirs the witnesses’ souls. ‘Shame’ has an illustrious Linkin Park motif that coalesces with all the aforementioned genres to extreme levels. ‘Spinning In Place’ follows this trend flawlessly, with a feasible “cosmic metal” instruction that Slipknot would admire. Then ‘Vultures’ would, in all likelihood, have Enter Shikari dancing in admiration.
‘Cannibal’ is a nu-metalcore-disco that would work eerily well in a scene of the Blade film franchise – are you paying attention Marvel? Closer ‘Outsider’ is a cinematic venture that travels through musical movements of new wave, post-rock, chamber-pop, alternative rock, and even impulses of Thom Yorke’s elegance shine through this sensationally spine-tingling phenomenon that Aaron Gillespie croons over angelically. It is chillingly hypnotic in its beauty.
The Place After This One, at times, wanders far from Underøath’s famed sound, which may cause some division among their legion of devotees worldwide. However, these 12 compositions stir the soul of heavy music charismatically with remarkable resonance. The quintet has not just pushed the envelope of their celebrated musical character, they shredded it apart to create illustrious art.
Thank you, Underøath, for your wanderlust.
The Place After This One is out now.
