TomlovesMezz - Part 6 - Underoath vs Poison the Well

Since I started this blog I have had a few people getting in touch passing on encouragement and compliments. Thank you all it’s nice to know people are reading and enjoying my musical mumblings.

One of these people was one of my best mates Cuff who also requested an album for me to talk about. Cuff’s recently popped the question to his lady-friend Alex so I thought this could be a fitting tribute for their future matrimony (although Alex is probably going to absolutely hate the music – i’ll buy you’s both a present too don’t worry) its also his birthday today. I warned in my introductory post that not everything i post will be for everyone – this is a solid example of one such post.

Me and Cuff have known each other since we were 13 and share a love of music (and Halo). He’s one of about 10 people that i often bounce newly discovered bands off and is my go to man for all thing metal. Cuff’s metal game is strong – mine is considerably weaker. From an outsider’s perspective i can image one would view ‘metal’ as a fairly generic genre – its all just noise and shouting right? Wrong (to use some classic Cuff bluntness). It’s incredibly diverse and is as easy to track developments of sub-genres as any other genre. Admittedly I don’t like all metal – some of it is just too chaotic or generally a-harmonic for me. As i grow older I’ve found myself listening to less of it but a combination of starting this blog and recently seeing Everytime I Die live has definitely rekindled an old love.

The sub-genre where mine and Cuff’s love of metal overlap considerably is often called metal-core/screamo/post-hardcore. I’ve decided to discuss 2 albums to put across today’s argument – Underoath’s (2004) ‘They’re only chasing safety’ and Poison the Well’s (2003) ‘You come before you’. The reason for this is to demonstrate two very distinct narratives within the genre. Poison the Well would be considered more of a ‘metal-core’ band whilst Underoath reside in the screamo/post-hardcore category.

The two sub-genres were spawned from their own separate trajectories. ‘Metal-core’ I would consider a little more ‘macho’ in nature (see bands like Parkway Drive, Killswitch Engage, Bullet for My Valentine etc) with their roots in trash-metal and hardcore punk – there’s vests, muscles and stomping riffs. ‘Screamo’ on the other hand (see bands like Silverstien, Alexisonfire, is a heavier version of ’emotional punk’ (aka ’emo’) or pop-punk – there’s still vests but there’s haircuts, tight jeans and melodic riffs. These two bands both offer a little-something extra than most other bands in their respective sub-genres. Arguably this era between 2003-04 saw the two genres pull closer together than previously and provided a mixing-pot for future bands to brew new blends in (both bands were also from Florida…).

We’ll start with Underoath and then move on to Poison the Well. This is the first band I’ve discussed on this blog that actually held a place on the fabled TomlovesMezz CD – they might of even opened it. I saw Underoath live on the Warped Tour in Calgary (a day that introduced me to probably 20 bands) and later me and Cuff took a road-trip to Leeds to see them. There’s only one type of Underoath fan: Die-hard.

Underoath progressed massively through their career – first incarnation of Underoath wasn’t really to my taste (their first 3 albums). Second though – oh my days. ‘They’re Only Chasing Safety’ was the first album from this cabinet reshuffle and it set an agenda. Like a serious agenda. They weren’t here to put out a few albums, they were here to pave paths and did so consistently over the next 4 releases. The path that has never been walked before is a dangerous one though – by the time Underoath released ‘Ø’ in 2011 not a single original band member remained. Wikipedia cites 9 ex-band members and 6 currently involved. Maybe that’s what it takes to redefine constantly and consistently. Anyway when vocalist Spencer entered into the fray for ‘They’re only Chasing Safety’ shit hit the musical fan.

Its quickly worth mentioning that the band were by no means ‘punky’ (i say this in the pop-punk sense of actually singing something) in the first version – it was pretty sludgy stuff. But with ‘They’re only Chasing Safety’ came these elements; a chorus you could sing along to amid the carnage. No doubt there is aggression there but in a different sense completely to our next offering. Love-sick, heart broken angst. Underoath didn’t look they spent most of their time in the gym on the one hand but were a whole bunch more riled up than Blink 182 – I think the title of their track ‘I’ve Got Ten Friends and a Crowbar That Says You Ain’t Gonna Do Jack’ sums up the mood in camp pretty nicely – power in numbers and some extra weaponry to level the playing field!

Lets get into a few tracks – i’m not going to cover them all because this post is already turning into a monster but here’s a few.

From the offset of ‘Young and Aspiring’ you can hear the diversity in Spencer’s vocal range – piercing and shrill (on later records he also adds an impressive bass range too) or melodic as it needs to be. Now you’ve had some time to hear what Underoath sound like its probably a good time to mention that they do it all in the name of God – i always found it funny how something so brutal could come from a Christian band – but hey that’s their choice not mine and its pretty clear at shows that they provide both an outlet and solidarity for their Christian fans. Their faith also gives them a foundation for some pretty intense lyrical subject-matter.

Track 2 (‘A Boy Brushed Red… Living in Black and White’) is one of two songs that sold me on Underoath – its got more of the ‘punky’ side to it and a catchy chorus. After the second chorus comes the ‘breakdown’ (or the ‘drop’ depending on who you’re talking to) – probably my favourite section of any post-hardcore tune. If you aren’t nodding your head to that section it’s probably time to depart until my next post 🙂 Later Underoath would the ‘breakdown’, realising it was the part of the song that everyone went mental for and multiplied it so they had entire albums that were pretty much a breakdown from start to finish. Sorted.

‘Reinventing Your Exit’ (track 4) was the first Underoath track i heard sat in the boot of a car driving across Canada and i remember just how it sounded like nothing else i’d ever heard. Its got some pretty nice melodic sections in it and those ‘punky’ undertones are there too – I’d probably recommend starting here if you’re new to the genre its got enough of a structure to hold on to and gets you ‘used’ to some good old fashioned screaming your lungs out.

Lastly ‘It’s Dangerous Business Stepping out Your Front Door’ (track 6)(to any Underoath fans – i’m aware i’ve only mentioned the singles here but they’re singles for a reason right?) offers another level of eclecticism to an already colourful pallet with electronic sections and sparse verses with a breakdown over the top of a full choir! If there is only 1 minute of this record you listen to make it this one (it starts on 18:13 on the video above). Lets move on.

Poison the Well, like i mentioned earlier, started out life firmly in the ‘metal-core’ category and gradually moved towards the outskirts of the genre with an expanding horizon of influences. Their last album ‘Versions’ (2007) is probably my favourite as it sees the band reach full maturity – so far as being completely comfortable in their own pigeon-hole within the genre (the only time i saw them was on this tour too). However today we’re looking at ‘You Come Before You’ firstly because it was the release closest to Underoath’s and secondly because it catches the band in transition.

Firstly Poision the Well didn’t really care about their image compared to other bands – they just look like slightly tattooed normal guys who like band t-shirts. When I saw them one of the guitarists was playing a hollow-body jazz guitar rather than your typical pointy Ibanez or something along those lines. This probably compliments my second point; that in comparison to most other bands around them at the time Poison the Well just sounded so sonically rich – warm jazzy death. Maybe this is because, comparatively, they utilised very few electronic sounds – instead choosing to stick to acoustic instruments. If there are any guitar tone freaks out there go listen to just how many different unbelievable tones they throw into one album!

Jeffry’s vocals are comparable to Spencer’s in the sense that they both blend screaming, singing and almost spoken sections together effortlessly – something that wasn’t really happening at the time but has since pretty much become the blueprint. However they’re polar opposites as far as tone. Jeff’s are much more guttural and low compared to Spencer’s throat ripping.

‘Loved Ones’ (track 2) sounds like a fairly standard post-hardcore song nowadays but at the time it was really pushing what the genre could do. Several bands have taken on board the ‘gentle guitar/nasty vocal’ combination of the verses since this record landed.

‘Meeting Again for the First Time’ is probably my favourite on the album. Mainly just for the last line of every verse that just mutate from pleasantries to absolute filth. And back. Amazing.

‘Zombies are Good for Your Health’ (track 7) is another classically brutal example of when you listen back you could say that sounds like any number of bands doing the circuit at the minute but 12 years earlier. It’s also got a killer break down so that ticks that box. Also the snare drum on this track (but also laced throughout the album) sounds simply phenomenal – a sound that was pushed to its limits on the future release of ‘Versions’.

To conclude these two offerings changed the game. I’m finding it hard to come up with an analogy for it but the best i’ve got is it’s like a foreign exchange program where you visit a country with your own culture ingrained and then learn about a different culture coming home changed. When the exchange was over the flood gates opened for a whole collection of great experimental-‘place-metal-sub-genre-here’ bands: Between the Buried and Me are a sublime example, as too are The Devil Wears Prada, August Burns Red, The Bled, Protest the Hero, Thrice, Fall of Troy… the list goes on.

Go bang your head.