They're Only Chasing Safety — Underoath

Underoath's They're Only Chasing Safety came out on Solid State, Tooth & Nail's heavy label, on 15 June 2004. James Paul Wisner produced it at Wisner Productions, his home studio in Florida. It runs about thirty-six minutes. It was the first album with Spencer Chamberlain singing lead after Dallas Taylor left, and it gave drummer Aaron Gillespie's clean vocals a much bigger role. It peaked at No. 101 on the Billboard 200 and No. 7 on the Christian Albums chart, and the RIAA certified it gold in 2011. It reached secular listeners without preaching at them.

Who they were in 2004

In 2004 Underoath was a Christian band on Tooth & Nail's roster. Alex Henderson's AllMusic review put it plainly. Their faith set them apart from a lot of screamo bands, but the references were so subtle that secular audiences were happy to listen. Church kids and mall kids were buying the same CD. Sales of the original and the 2005 reissue together passed half a million in the US, and that's how the gold record eventually came.

The band moved on later. In 2018 Chamberlain told Revolver that agreeing not to be a Christian band anymore was one of the best things they ever did. It's worth knowing, but it's a story for a later album.

What the critics keep saying about this album

Henderson heard screamo, post-hardcore and melodic hardcore built on contrast. Clean singing played against tortured screaming, and melody against sledgehammer riffs. Rather than going straight for the throat like metalcore, he said, bands like this mix honey with vinegar. He called it mildly uneven but, more often than not, respectable. Brooklyn Vegan later called it one of melodic metalcore's biggest mainstream breakthroughs, and Cross Rhythms heard nu metal weight on its heavier side.

Jaime Preciado of Pierce the Veil told Revolver the album was "the blueprint." He loved the chaos and melody in the same song, with drums, singing and electronics all finding a place. He learned every word, and "Reinventing Your Exit" was the song that pulled him in.

it's all dead looked back on it for the tenth anniversary. Even if the album isn't flawless, the site said, it may be the most game-changing post-hardcore record of its time. It opened the floodgates for a wave of new bands and went gold in a scene where that almost never happened. And the band re-signed with Tooth & Nail rather than jumping to a major.

Knotfest's twentieth-anniversary interview with Gillespie came back to the two voices. Chamberlain's raw screams played against Gillespie's cleaner singing, blending melody and aggression in a way nobody had quite done before. The bridge of "It's Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door" features a choir from a local church, and guitarist Timothy McTague has said the band misled the choir about the song's meaning to get them to sing. The two singles were "Reinventing Your Exit" and "It's Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door."

Four tracks from this LP

Reinventing Your Exit is the song that hooked Preciado. It's heavy and melodic in under four and a half minutes, and a decade of bands chased that balance.

A Boy Brushed Red Living in Black and White pairs big hooks with a breakdown. McTague has said he used Jimmy Eat World's "Your New Aesthetic" as a template when he wrote it.

It's Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door is a murder ballad with 1980s-style electronics, the church choir on the bridge and the "Drowning in my sleep" breakdown that Preciado remembers screaming along to.

Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape closes the album. It's built around an electronic beat and sounds more like Copeland than metalcore, a soft landing after everything before it.

The score

It scores an 8/10.

Why not higher? AllMusic called it mildly uneven, and even its fans admit to soft spots. Why not a six? Preciado called it the blueprint, and it went gold in a scene where that rarely happens. Henderson's honey-and-vinegar line still fits, and "Reinventing Your Exit" and "Dangerous Business" still work twenty years on. It carries real weight without being flawless.

Where this album sits on Loud Faith

In 2004, Christian emo and post-hardcore on Tooth & Nail and Solid State was a real force. This album was nominated for a Dove Award for best rock album, and kids wanted breakdowns and belief on the same disc. They're Only Chasing Safety is the album that crossed over, Christian on the label and welcoming enough to travel. Metalcore fans heard Chamberlain. Emo fans heard Gillespie.