Underoath Announce New Album, 'Erase Me'

It's actually happening: A new Underoath record is coming in 2018!

Christmas has come early (or late, as it's still only February now) with Underoath today revealing the details of their long-awaited new record, 'Erase Me' - their first album in eight years and their first release since 2008's mighty 'Lost In The Sound Of Separation' to feature drummer/singer Aaron Gillespie as a member of the esteemed Tampa heavy group.

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Despite the various online leaks so far this week about the revered Florida band's new album announcement, that has only further built the level of hype for this news - news of which fans and even the band themselves would have never thought possible even a year or two ago. Ever since the band reunited back in late 2015 and announced a string of reunion celebratory tours in 2016 and 2017 (including a killer tour here in Australia), many, many people have been hoping out for new Underoath material and now there's one key date look forward to and circle on the calendar - Friday, April 6th, when the album drops via Fearless Record/Caroline Australia.

“We’ve had success and we’ve come through a lot of waters,” explained Gillespie in a recent press statement, adding that the six-piece are doing this new album as honest as they can and that they're now in their healthiest position yet as a band. “There’s been 11,000 things we’ve been through so you would think, almost rhetorically, ‘What do you need now?’ All of us are finally in that place in our lives where the only thing we care about is inclusion for everybody—for the world. For me, exclusion is the scariest thing in the world. And I think Underoath coming back now with a new record—which none of us thought was possible—we want people to know that this is your music and you can feel however the fuck you want about it. I just want to prove that we are doing everything in the most honest way we ever have. This is the healthiest we’ve ever been as a group of people, as musicians, and in our worldview.”

Erase Me' was written and recorded over the summer of 2017 with producer Matt Squire (Panic! At The Disco, 3OH!3) and mixed by Ken Andrews (Failure, Jimmy Eat World), with the narrative behind these new 11-songs addressing the circumstances that led to the demise of the band back in 2013, how they can be honest with themselves and with their fans, and the group's further disenchantment with religion - something that was becoming increasingly clear in their last couple releases.

Which may have more or less touched upon with the album's first single, the biting bitterness of 'On My Teeth' - a surging, soaring, and punchy rock track full of busy riffs, Nine Inch Nails electronic parts and rapid drumming, all set to a backdrop of lyrical betrayal ("Let’s get this straight/I’m fine without you/I’m not your fucking prey") and the very real, very dark places we often fall into ("So where were you/When I fell out/Went back into the dark/I’m lost again/So don’t come find me"). Much like 2013's single 'Sunburnt', this new piece contains elements from Sleepwave whilst forgoing parts of that heavier direction Underoath were heading on with 2010's 'Disambiguation', what with a more rock-than-metalcore song-writing approach and with frontman Spencer Chamberlain taking the main dual-vocal lead throughout. But that's no bad thing, as it still showcases their powerful musicianship and the strong dynamic between their heavier undercurrents and their lighter, hookier flares. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'll be sure to have this track on repeat all fucking day.

As someone who loves this band's music more than I love actual people in my life (2006's 'Define The Great Line' forever fam), I am so happy that the band has pushed forward beyond the mere reunion stage and is now fully returning with new music. I am also so excited, so curious and so nervous to hear the rest of this new record, and I'm far from the only one with that boiling anticipation right now too. But something tells me that 'Erase Me' will be more than worth the long wait and will most likely live up to the immense hype around it. I mean, this is Underoath we're talking about here!