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Update:
You can now pre-order the new Underoath album “Erase Me” right here in a few different bundles. Check out the music video for new song “On My Teeth”, below. Thoughts on this new direction and controversial content? Album is out April 6th on Fearless Records. According to the band’s Facebook page (sort of), there is going to be new Underoath music coming our way tomorrow. Hit up their page and this link for more vague info. Unconfirmed sources have rumored the album, “Erase Me”, will be out on Fearless Records in the first week of April. As we await an official announcement on that, who’s looking forward to some NEW music from these guys???
I’m not one to ever comment on here, but felt a need to chime in… I read these lyrics as an expression of Spencer’s anger towards Christians for the way they treated him and a bit of his story of why he stepped away from Christianity. I’m personally convicted by his story, especially in Verse 2: “Where were you // When I fell out // Went back into the dark // I’m lost again // So don’t come find me” It seems like a question to Christians asking where they were when he relapsed into drugs and doubt. Instead of… Read more »
Nice to see a thoughtful and mature comment here instead of the typical “omg they’re just being edgy cuz they cuss now” sentiments being posted here (honestly, I should have known better considering this is a primarily conservative Christian-based site). Personally, I don’t mind if they’re no longer presenting themselves as a “Christian band” anymore, especially since the main vocalist is no longer a Christian. Hell, Sufjan Stevens is one of my favorite artists and is a devout Christian, yet never labels himself as a “Christian artist”, and even has occasional foul language in his music, but I would hardly… Read more »
It has nothing to do with people being conservative or liberal, lol. Some will have no problem with this song and video while others will. It’s just music. I think the Sufjan comparison is appropriate, but Spencer comes across as a childish, whining crybaby by blaming others for his own issues (typical considering the scene, really). Also, Sufjan doesn’t do anything to be “edgy”, lol. He just does stuff and it’s generally gold. Underoath are going out of their way to literally throw up the middle finger at Christians and there’s guaranteed to be backlash from some people, because most… Read more »
Thank you for this: a level-headed, biblical response, rather than vitriol that I’ve seen from so many others.
Can i like this post more than 1 time please? 😀
I think the way he stepped back from the faith, as well as other members, is what dandered people. They didnt just step back internally or fall into sin. They have intetviews preaching against God and for religious relativism. People still may have gone to far or not shown Christ correctly but it wasnt a simple case of a backsliding brother or sister; they became anti-Christian. Now, if this was Joe schmoe who used to go to church, thats one thing. These guys were stars in the public square and voiced their opinions there as the stars they were. They… Read more »
I guess maybe I should apologize for updating Rob’s initial post with all the release info. This is (mostly) my words above. Anyway, I’m kind of in a weird state with regard to the controversy here. I listen to a ton of music some of which does have cursing in it and inappropriate content. Some I can handle some not so much. I do agree with some comments here from both sides of the aisle. Something weird, people were saying was about IVM itself which I feel the need to explain. IVM is a website entity, it is NOT a… Read more »
Thank you, Brandon, for a thoughtful response to all of this. And thank you for making IVM what it is and has been.
There is a lot going on here, and it’s helpful to be reminded that, while it’s okay to disagree and debate things passionately, it’s not okay to demean or belittle someone else in the process.
I appreciate the historical/industry context there, especially since I never followed ZAO, but hear people argue over them at times. I vaguely know they bounced back and forth for people, but didn’t know specifically why. To give my personal, wordy take on where to go with this site, it’s obviously up to you. I don’t know the hearts of every band on your label. For the most part, they all seem to have at least something Christian on those albums, some more (DENS) than others (Available at the Counter). That’s not to say any are or aren’t more or less… Read more »
Well thought and said Keith.
I agree Brandon. Thank you for covering them still. Ironically enough, I think that all of the complaining about Spencer’s lyrics may be a continuation of the pattern of behavior of people that drove Spencer away from Christianity.
Hahaha brilliant
I still listen to former Christian marketed artist. Some who curse and question God in their music. This just rubbed me the wrong way. I off course will pray for them as I do for Tim from AILD and others. This just seemed like an immature marketing/attention grabbing move. Not even the F bomb but a middle finger. Come on! People like myself who bought every cd,a t shirt and payed for a ticket to see them nearly 10 times from 2001 till they disbanded have the right to speak honestly. Blame is on the record labels and marketing as… Read more »
I’m surprised I enjoyed this. Never got into Disambiguation but this sounds good. I’m indifferent to swearing in songs – I don’t choose to swear personally and I don’t think it’s that necessary in music but it doesn’t offend me.
Another “post-christian” band exercising their right to spit in the face of the consumers that made them famous. Another album I either have to edit songs out of rotation or not play around my kids in the car or at home. Be as edgy as you want Underoath, you have every right to….as I have the right not to buy your album. To whoever produced the video…who thought it was ‘cool’ to flip off the audience? What a tasteless, garbage gesture to people who, whether through record sales or monetization via youtube adds, are BUYING YOUR PRODUCT. Grow up. I… Read more »
There’s a lot going on here. First, Underoath made a statement years ago before they broke up that they were no longer a “Christian” band. If you haven’t seen “Tired Violence” (the documentary they made about their “farewell” tour), I’d recommend it as they discuss this issue quite a bit. Spencer and Grant, at that point, no longer considered themselves to be Christians. The rest of the guys felt it right to stop identifying the band as “Christian,” and I honestly applaud them for that. Second, I don’t know how you even spotted Spencer flashing his middle finger, but nice… Read more »
With regard to who thought is was a good idea to flip off the audience, most performance based videos (like the one here) consist of the band doing their own thing. The director may give some insight into what would be a good shot at a certain angle, but the actions of the band and how they choose to present a performance is all on themselves. Spencer thought it would be a good idea to flip off the audience, so he did it. Additionally, even if the director had suggested it, Spencer could have chosen not to. For the most… Read more »
Disappointing!!! 🙁
The real tragedy here is just how mediocre this song is.
Video is great. The song will probably be their biggest yet. As for the controversy, I’m not a fan of Spencer flipping off the camera but only because I don’t care for bands that do that. It’s never been a cool thing to me when metal/rock bands do that sort of thing. Spencer’s 35 years old and he’s acting like a teenager who didn’t get their way. It’s very Fred Durst of him, so I guess congrats on “progress”? Lyrically, it’s definitely a whiny mixed bag for me and I don’t think I need to delve into it much, because… Read more »
Am i the only one who thinks that lyrics are about a ended badly relationship ?
It definitely is, but only in the sense that “relationship” is a very vague term. It could be a song about breaking from their relationship with Solid State or the Christian market as a whole. It could be about not liking how thing after Lost in the Sound of Separation were received (given Sleepwave didn’t go anywhere, Aaron said The Almost was set aside because people didn’t seem to like what was being done, and the UO fan base had some strife over the leaving of Aaron and loss of the “Christian” tag that followed). Brandon mentioned a divorce above,… Read more »
Good gosh. Where to begin? I knew even before the single came out that this song/album would be incredibly divisive. It’s beyond crazy to me that people either forgot or act like Underoath is “not a Christian band anymore,” when they haven’t been since Disambiguation came out almost 8 years ago. I understand that doesn’t make it any less disappointing or leave less of a sour taste in the great news that one of the best bands to be part of this genre is back. I’m certainly not thrilled with the language (3 of the 11 songs have the “explicit”… Read more »
Some might have forgotten, but many of us didn’t, and that’s not the issue. There can be that change without alienation of the Christian market, but it seems the goal of this song was to do just that. The lyrics of the song come off in a way The Color Morale’s “Saviorself did,” where it’s an outright rejection of Christianity in a very abrasive, combative manner. Besides, some also wanted to put the “not a Christian band” label on the fact Aaron left, and might have thought his return would reset them in their ways. The band made it clear… Read more »
I think it’s beyond naive to assume that just because Aaron Gillespie had returned that it meant the spiritual state of the band had “returned.” He left because of mental health issues. Obviously if I’m posting on here, I do listen to bands that are covered by IVM. I’m not surprised by people being put off, and I mentioned, I’m not exactly thrilled with this development, either. But what good is it to freak out when a member of the band who no longer considers himself a Christian (and hasn’t for over 8 years), and writes lyrics decides to include… Read more »
Spencer has walked away and he makes that very obvious. What really disappointed me was aaron making the statement saying we don’t give a f&@ck what everybody thinks. Considering he does worship music and then comes out and says this as the official statement of the band makes it hard for me to go back and listen to his worship albums. I wonder where his heart is currently and we all stumble and cuss sometimes, nobody’s perfect. If Spencer came out saying we don’t give an F then fine cuz that’s where he is currently on his journey, upset and… Read more »
Aaron hasn’t done worship music in 3 years. To be completely honest, I was never impressed by those albums. Those albums felt like more of a “money grab” to me than him returning to Underoath possibly could. You should look up interviews with him about the Christian music industry – he was told to write songs as if he was writing to middle-aged soccer moms.
I don’t really follow. You’re basically saying Aaron doesn’t get to have emotional reactions to things because he’s supposedly “too Christian” for it? I think you’re taking his stance as an “I want you mad at me and don’t have any interest in you,” which is the wrong way to take it. It’s likely meant more in the sense of “I am who I am, and I’m not living to appease you.” It’s a fair stance to take, and I don’t think cursing in that context is wrong. He’s gone through 3 different bands over 20 years and done things… Read more »
A Christian band is a band made up entirely of Christians, or else the term is meaningless. There should be no secular / sacred divide in the Christian life; everything we do should be to the glory of God.
Right, so then you agree that Underoath is not a Christian band?
Absolutely
To be honest …Your name is a brand now. Christian marketing defined you to a generation. Change your name. The lyrics don’t make me think or provoke thought. I get anger and cursing when it fits but some of this stuff coming out from former christian bands seems forced. Not for me. Good luck to them all. Their is plenty of good secular music to choose from.
The lyrics are garbage, the sound/music itself is generic.
I’m sorry, but that’s a lot worse than I expected anyway from the new Underaoth. Another band that is no longer worth listening to.
This is disappointing. What exactly are they trying to prove by this? You want to apostatize? Knock yourself out. The edgy, “look at me”, way of doing it is played out. They are another in a long line of christian hardcore/metal/whatever bands that have walked away from their faith.
So because they swear that means they walked away from their faith? That’s terribly judgmental and makes no sense.
Nowhere did Sivart mention swearing as the issue with the song. Sivart appeared to be referring to the message conveyed by the lyrics as a whole.
That certainly would be. Idk what sivart meant by his comment, but this song (with its lyrics, flipping off, etc), taken into account with a larger UO context? Not nearly as superficial.
No, but they have said that the band as a collective has done that. Not all of them still have their faith, and they no longer see the band’s purpose as one to be an outlet for Christ first. It means they’re no longer trying to entertain in God’s name as a unit as they did before. You won’t hear songs like “Too Bright to See Too Loud To Hear” or a live album preaching about God anymore. It’s not about the cursing, it’s about the open statement that they’ve changed their goals.
The song is pretty cool. They totally dropped the F bomb instantly. The band has never been a favorite of mine, but this was pretty good. I don’t think they’re Christian anymore though.
They aren’t. They said as much after Aaron left the first time, basically, and I’m pretty sure they explicitly stated it when they came back (though I don’t recall if it was a video or print interview that covered it). Honestly, I didn’t love anything about this. The cursing was poor, as was the finger to the camera. It was just a childish, cringey way to try to break the mold in the same way everyone else seems to try it (looking at you, The Classic Crime and a few InVogue bands). It also looked like Spencer died his hair,… Read more »
This band’s always made me feel old and ambivalent…and now I still feel old and ambivalent.
Curse word and middle finger aside, I am not sure why people are saying this song is so good. The intro is good and then it does nothing for me.
Different strokes for different folks. I think the majority concensus seems to be more “good, not great.” I’d say most of us are just excited to have new Underoath even if it’s not exactly the best they’ve ever done.
I see a lot of emotional responses, I get it there should be. One thing I know the Word of God should have the final say in our choices no matter what we personally like or dislike. Though we often fail in making the right choice. This is a GENERAL statement for life.
Col3:8 Jam3:9-12 Eph 4:29 1John1:9
Also, lol at people calling this a “money grab.”
Seriously? Do you realize how much money they’ve left on the table just by no longer calling themselves a Christian band? Shoot, take Kings Kaleidoscope (who do still consider themselves a Christian band), who got dropped from Creation because of their song “A Prayer.” Give me a break – there is 0 financial gain to be had by including profanity in your lyrics if you’re a Christian band.
Having said all that, I do feel that the usage here feels forced.
Honestly, it’s theses sort of comments that make me want to walk away from Christian music and never look back.
So, do it then? Seriously, no-one cares about your personal musical tastes, nor will they judge you for listening to Fall Out Boy exclusively. You just go right ahead and do your thing, attention seeker.
Sorry for the confusion Frank. Let me clarify what I meant by my comment. It was not intended to reflect my personal taste in music–for the record I don’t listen to Underoath or Fall Out Boy. My dismay come from the division and hatred in the comments. I’ve been writing for IVM and other Christian music websites for over two years now and have repeatedly found myself in the middle of controversies of this sort on a regular basis. Here’s the thing, when you are writing about Christian music it’s not about your personal music tastes anymore. It’s about people’s… Read more »
On a side note Frank, I do a podcast on Christian music. If you would like to do an interview on this topic and share your opinions on it shoot me an email at IVMSpotify@Gmail.com
their facebook page appears to be gone…
yeah had that problem also around that time.. works fine now
Another day another childhood Christian band/artist blatantly cuss in a song.. Why am I still surprised every time. Is there any proof this hip trend ends up profitable for the bands?
I really don’t think this is a profit move. If anything I believe they know that this will immediately distance them from many Christians
Singer dropped the F bomb immediately and Aaron the drummer drops the F bomb in a quote about the new album
Yeah there were articles I came across after Define the Great Line that made me wonder about them. I’ve since stopped listening to their music. It’s a shame because I really used to like their music and the fact that they were glorifying God.
I’m a little disappointed but I’ll still listen. I loved the song.
See, I don’t mind the cursing in an interview. Unless you’re going to say ever cursing makes you a terrible person, I can at least accept that it’s something that comes in natural language. However, they also marketed at their return that they were no longer a Christian band. Still, this seems like an attempt to be edgy and prove they’re not a Christian band, between the cursing and flipping off the camera. I had a feeling this would be what came out of their return, and I’m disappointed to see it.
What surprised me was aaron, he does worship albums and then drops the f bomb. He’s just presenting himself in a bad light. We’re all human but no need to drop the f bomb for everybody to read
Exactly. I know sometimes we slip up. It happens. But to do so intentionally is different. While still having a different context, I feel James 3:10 relates: Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Why would you be that surprised though? Go look at the lyrics to The Almost’s “Monster Monster,” he curses in that song.