Underøath – They’re Only Chasing Safety | 10 Year Anniversary

When you think about it, what is an album? Thirty-five minutes of noise? A thin piece of vinyl? An iconic image? Or a musical realisation of a groups’ knuckle-scathing efforts?

It’s hard to believe that Underøath’s fourth studio album has just turned 10, the behemoth that is ‘They’re Only Chasing Safety‘. For this reviewer, the album became a firm favourite a few years later, but at the time it was the beginning of the blossoming love many of us felt towards the metalcore titans.

This release marked two crucial moments in the band’s career: The departure of half the band, leaving Aaron Gillespie (drums and vocals) as the last founding member, oh and it was their breakthrough album. Perhaps the arrival of Spencer Chamberlain (lead vocals), Grant Brandell (bass) and James Smith (rhythm guitar), or the help of producer James Paul Wisner rocketed the band’s success. But whatever the reason, this was their crowning moment.

Today we can celebrate the album in all its glory, but how was it received back in the day? Well it wasn’t ground-breaking in terms of sales, but over 500,000 copies were sold in the US in the album’s first year of existence, and 100,000 of those bought in the first week. So pleased were their label (Solid State Records), that 2005 saw a reissue with four additional tracks – you may even recognise some tracks as they were early demos of songs that made it onto the original album.

In terms of the sound there is very little we could say but how devastatingly brilliant it is. And yes, present tense, because there is no way this album could lose its impact on the fans it touched. Without sounding too hyperbolic, every penetrating song opener sends shivers along the vertebrae of this writer. Take the first track, ‘Young and Aspiring’ – the dissonant but complimentary chord progression (inspired by Pantera’s ‘Suicide Note Pt. I’) under the raspy screams paves the way from the album’s entirety to blossom. While the delicate vocal harmonies laced between the muted strums of ‘A Boy Brushed Red… Living In Black And White’ are all but a run-up to the guitar and vocal-led climax. Other crucial points in the album include: ‘It’s A Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door‘ and bonus track ‘I’ve Got Ten Friends And A Crowbar That Says You Ain’t Gonna Do Jack‘.

But it wasn’t just the intricate instrumentals that made this album. Worth noting are the Christian undertones to the band’s music, more explicitly demonstrated in their lyrics. As guitarist Timothy McTague told MTV in ’05, “The ideas we address in our songs and the overall spiritual foundation of our band are very real and powerful.” And real and powerful this album is. Just listening to ‘Reinventing Your Exit’, the screams of “We all wanna be, wanna be somebody. Right now, we’re just looking for the answers” chime true amongst us all.

Last year saw the split of the Floridian sextet, but despite their departure, they sure as hell left their mark. With a whopping seven studio albums to their name, the band also released a career-spanning collection of tracks entitled ‘Anthology: 1999-2013’ which included four songs from ‘TOCS‘.

This is not an album that will be easily forgotten, and for the sake of good music we hope that the generations to come will bare witness to what was released ten genre-defining years ago.