After rampaging back onto the scene with their first tune in eight years, ‘On My Teeth’, Underoath have let fly another belter dubbed ‘Rapture’.
Premiering via BBC’s Radio 1 Rock Show (below) the song — sliced off their forthcoming eighth studio album Erase Me — prominently features clean vocals and a stadium-ready chorus, which has left a lot of fans super divided.
So far, Twitter commentators either seem to love it or loathe the band’s new direction, with many likening it to frontman Spencer Chamberlain’s other band, Sleepwave:
So disappointed in underoath's new direction. Sounds so much like Sleepwave.. love that they're trying new things but it sounds so generic. I loved underoath cause every song felt different, with crazy good guitar and drums. Now seems like every other heavy band on the market. =/
— Watson (@WatsonTEAB) March 19, 2018
the new underoath track is super different, sounds like they’re incorporating a lot of sleepwave into it
im totally okay w that, im STOKED for this record
— jval (@ripjval) March 18, 2018
The new underoath song is the worst underoath song ever
— Elon Muscala (@okcthunderfan69) March 19, 2018
New Underoath is soo good!
— TopG (@ZephyrLtd) March 19, 2018
Underøath is fucking KILLING IT. A new era has fucking begun and I am here for it @wschamberlain @aaronrgillespie @UnderoathBand
— netflix and will. (@flexecutive182) March 19, 2018
Underoath just an average radio rock band now? That was….fine, but not an Underoath song. pic.twitter.com/JD4rhKBBiP
— Tim H (@Tim_in_the_CYP) March 18, 2018
After hearing only two songs, it’s clear, @UnderoathBand has created the first record of this genre that will be played in arenas around the world.
— Domestic Society (@DomesticSociety) March 19, 2018
But it’s unlikely that Chamberlain himself will be phased by the naysayers.
Speaking with Music Feeds earlier today in an incredibly candid interview, the singer explained that the band made a conscious decision to set fire to the rulebook when writing their comeback album.
“We were not worrying about what people might think, what we should or should not be doing,” he explained. “I just made one rule while we made this record which was: ‘That’s not Underoath enough’ could not be said anymore.
“We threw away so many good ideas and made so many mistakes in the past because we were overthinking what Underoath actually was,” he continued. “When that happens, you just don’t grow. You affect your whole growth as an artist, as a band and as a human being when you create so many rules on what a band actually is.
“…Whether it’s you as a journalist, a football player or a business person, there’s no way you’d be doing things the same as you did twelve years ago. So I find it unfair when people expect that of us and that’s why we just don’t give a shit about it. We’ve become a different band.”
Read the full interview here, and give Underoath’s new track ‘Rapture’ a spin below.
Their new album Erase Me is due out April 6th.
