Underoath — Underoath

Underoath started in a Florida high school scene in 1997 and became one of the biggest heavy bands of the 2000s. They went gold twice, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, broke up, came back, and walked away from the Christian band label they once carried on stage every night. Few Christian heavy bands went further, and few have been as honest about what it cost.

Ocala and the early records

Underoath formed on November 30, 1997, in Ocala, Florida, with vocalist Dallas Taylor and guitarist Luke Morton. Morton took the name "from somewhere in the Bible." Drummer Aaron Gillespie joined after Morton's father visited Gillespie's church and heard him play. Guitarist Corey Steger and bassist Octavio Fernandez filled out the band. They were all still in high school.

After a year of shows around Florida, they signed to Takehold Records in Alabama in 1999. Their debut, Act of Depression, came out that July and sold more than 2,000 copies. Keyboardist Christopher Dudley joined in 2000, the year of Cries of the Past, a five-song record that ran about forty minutes.

Tooth & Nail bought out Takehold, and Underoath moved to its heavy imprint, Solid State. Bassist Grant Brandell joined in January 2002. The Changing of Times, produced by James Paul Wisner, came out on February 26, 2002. Taylor said its songs were about "struggling through life's hardships and trying to find God in all of it."

A new voice

In 2003, partway through the band's first Warped Tour, Taylor left. For a while it looked like Underoath might end. Matt Tarpey filled in on vocals for a tour with Atreyu. Then, at the CMJ festival in New York in October 2003, the band showed up with a new singer, Spencer Chamberlain, formerly of This Runs Through. Gillespie said that before Chamberlain, the members "didn't really get along," and afterwards "everything was just normal, we clicked." They talked about changing the name and decided to keep it.

They're Only Chasing Safety

Chamberlain's first album with the band, They're Only Chasing Safety, came out on June 15, 2004. It outsold the three earlier albums combined and was certified gold by the end of 2005. The videos for "Reinventing Your Exit" and "It's Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door" got heavy play on MTV2 and Fuse. In 2005 they played the first Taste of Chaos tour and landed on the covers of CCM Magazine and Alternative Press. We reviewed the album here.

Define the Great Line

Matt Goldman and Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz produced the next album. Major labels came calling, but the band re-signed with Tooth & Nail, saying major labels "don't get heavy bands." In April 2006 they flew to Sweden to shoot videos for "In Regards to Myself" and "Writing on the Walls." The "Writing on the Walls" video was nominated for the Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video.

Define the Great Line came out on June 20, 2006, sold 98,000 copies in its first week, and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. It was the highest debut for a Christian album since 1997, and it went gold that November. Our review is here.

Success brought strain. In July 2006 the band left Warped Tour early, saying they needed time "to focus on our friendship." Even so, they toured Europe, Australia and Asia late that year, and went back to Australia and East Asia in August 2007. They played Cornerstone in 2007 too.

Lost in the Sound of Separation and Ø

Lost in the Sound of Separation arrived on September 2, 2008, heavier than Define the Great Line, and debuted at No. 8. The band toured it with Saosin and The Devil Wears Prada, and played their first South American shows that December.

On April 5, 2010, Gillespie, the last founding member, left. Former Norma Jean drummer Daniel Davison took his place, and Chamberlain and guitarist Timothy McTague took on more of the clean singing. Ø (Disambiguation) came out on November 9, 2010.

The end, and the return

On October 2, 2012, Underoath announced they would break up. Their farewell tour had mewithoutYou, As Cities Burn and letlive. as openers, and the last show was at Jannus Live in St. Petersburg, Florida, on January 26, 2013. Gillespie came up for two songs.

In 2015 they started teasing "rebirth is coming." On August 17, 2015, they announced a headline slot at Self Help Fest in 2016, with Gillespie back in the band.

Erase Me and after

Erase Me came out on Fearless Records on April 6, 2018. It was their first album in eight years and their first with Gillespie in ten. Its lead single, "On My Teeth," was the first Underoath song with profanity, and it earned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance. Voyeurist followed in January 2022, and The Place After This One in March 2025. In December 2024, at a show in St. Petersburg, Dallas Taylor joined the band on stage to sing "When the Sun Sleeps." In 2026 they were announced for the Louder Than Life festival.

Faith, then and now

Underoath's members once called themselves a Christian band. Even then, Chamberlain said they were Christian "in a different way," and that faith was "the backbone of our lives" but not of every lyric. Gillespie later told Alternative Press, "I'm definitely a Christian, but I don't think Underoath should be a 'Christian band.'"

With Erase Me, the band moved away from that publicly. Their own description said the band had once professed their faith onstage every night, without apology, and had "since moved beyond the realm of seemingly impenetrable polemics." In 2018 Chamberlain was blunt about his experience. "I'm not saying religion is wrong for everyone, but for me it was wrong," he said. "I never felt more alone in my life than when I was Christian."

That's a hard thing for Christian fans to hear, and an important one. Underoath were the band that proved a Solid State record could debut at No. 2. They were also, in Chamberlain's words, a band whose singer "held a huge burden" in that role. Both of those things are part of their story.

Why they matter

Loudwire named Underoath one of modern metalcore's "Big Four," alongside Bring Me the Horizon, Architects and Parkway Drive. AllMusic traced their growth from "a run-of-the-mill Christian metalcore band" into "a fluid, dynamic, and energized rock group." Almost thirty years after Ocala, they're still writing, with a new album hinted at for 2027.