Underoath - The Place After This One (Album Review)

Underoath - The Place After This One
Released: March 28, 2025

Line Up

Aaron Gillespie // Drums, Clean Vocals
Christopher Dudley // Keyboard, Synth, Programming
Tim McTague // Guitar, Backing Vocals
Grant Brandell // Bass
Spencer Chamberlain // Vocals, Additional Guitar

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Re-Defining The Great Line of musical boundaries has always been one of Underoath's greatest qualities, and with their tenth studio album busting out of the pearly gates we’re left to wonder. Will they continue to conquer their previous metalcore anthems? Or will They(‘re) be Only Chasing Safety to not dishearten their long-time fans? Don’t fret, for all the answers to your questions lie below, and Underoath never leave room for disappointment…

Incoming with immediate nostalgia, 'Generation No Surrender' introduces The Place After This One (TPATO) , with a constant cascade of stabby opens and pinches, aided by the unrelenting screams from Spencer Chamberlain throughout most of the intro song. The riffs alone reminiscence a mash up of Define The Great Line (DTGL) and Lost In The Sound of Separation title tracks, keeping their prior natural sound buried deep within whilst allowing room for newer ideas and influences to blossom and flourish. Sinking deeper into the programming and the drum n’ bass side of things; 'Devil' is a perfect follow-up boasting their fresh electronic prowess as keyboardist/programmer Chris Dudley takes the instrumental lead for majority of this song with rung out leads and low scaled guitars enhancing the already prominent trance-y vibe. Two tracks in, we finally hear some solo Aaron Gillespie vocals which hits like a fresh breath of air when listening to a new UO album for the first time. Gleefully keeping up with the chaos, 'Loss' is all gas no breaks; overwhelming screams and jammy clean vocal patterns absolutely packed to the brim with hardcore drum beats and muddy scales to keep up the velocity to MAX LEVEL.

Lived through the last 3 tunes? Well you might have 'Survivor’s Guilt', and we have just the song to remedy that. Sinking deeper into the anthemic themes already entwined to TPATO, the second single release gave fans a chance to flesh out theories on what kind of LP we’d be getting this time. Poppy, melodic rhythms hold a tight grasp around this tracks neck, flaring most of the attention to the chorus crowd evoking vocals. Seamlessly switching between hip-shaking chords and ambient trance fusion beats, 'All The Love Is Gone' brings both to the table with ease. Dropping panties across the globe with Corpse-esk vocals sweeping the intro, the energy continues climbing with each bar; an extremely catchy chorus propelling the hands of amassing crowds into the sky only to turn to fists and drop at the twangiest breakdown we’ve heard on TPATO yet. Changing up the formula to their advantage, 'And Then There Was Nothing' is much more than the name suggests. Proggie, aggressive guitars and decimating yells dominate every ounce of this short but sweet banger and not a sight of clean vocal in sight; showing this track was locked and loaded, ready to kill from the very first snare slaps.

Underoath meets glitch hop? It’s definitely not out of the realm of possibilities and certainly doesn’t feel like they’re pulling 'Teeth'. Transporting us to a completely new side of the album 'Teeth' is the chiller of the attention grabbers. Chopped up sampling and flowing cleans keep the life blood of the song going, whilst towards the end we get to boost of adrenaline in the form of bassy rolling chugs enough to pump your heart through your chest. It’s clear most of this album is to provoke a live audience into dancing or singing every lyric; 'Shame' is a big highlighter that represents the dance aspect. 'Shame' is a medium embodiment of this albums writing process; averaging their huge cinematic, electronic presence while maintaining those gritty, jumpy riffs and melody filled dual-vocals.  I think they’ve found their sweet point in that formula between synth and heaviness which reflects brightly here. Peeking through the blinds of 'Spinning In Place' reveals a cousin riff to the similarities of 'In Regards To Myself' (2006 DTGL) which is in no way a bad aspect. The rapid transitions keep the pace going leaving no room for breaks, but ends the track off feeling rushed unfinished.

Bringing back the hype, most anticipated track; 'Vultures' feat. Troy Sanders of Mastodon packs one hell of a punch. Killer downward slides, punchy opens and ultra-cathedral reverbed leads are instant ear grabbers alone. Additional ambient picky leads fill in any gaps with etherealism and the chorus’s killer tag line, ‘how’s it feel now that you circle with the Vultures?’ hooks you by the vocal chords and drags the words out of your mouth itself. Massive sub drops along the way amplify the underlying dark heaviness that sets the stage for Troy Sanders to do his gritty, possessing thing. This track truly takes no prisoners and stands out as one of the top dogs for The Place After This One. 'Cannibal' draws us towards the end of the album, heavy handed by octaves and melodic hardcore leads, she flicks an automatic switch in our brain telling us to hit the repeat button once more. Vocal melodies and chorus instrumentals take a huge part of the prize for this tune. The constant and consistent hype through-out flows flawlessly without fail. The powerful, harmonising vocals when they all scream “cannibal” alone has pegged this track to be one of my unexpected favourites. 

Outro song 'Outsider', feels oddly like a return to home. Underoath have always been well known for their massive interludes and jam session vibed tunes over the years, although this album doesn’t have much of that in terms of solo tracks. Listening to 'Outsider' with your eyes closed is like watching all the happy moments of your life, shown on a projector in front of you to gaze in awe and ease at. 'Outsider' is the PERFECT end to The Place After This One, and an exemplary start of what’s to come.

The Place After This One for certain has exceedingly strong foundations, always keeping one ear to their past and the other listening towards the future. Meeting an average base line to cover what your fans already love and what the artists passions are after ten albums is no easy feat; but again Underoath have repetitively and effortlessly pushed their boundaries in the past. Fronting the keys, programming and samples to fill in sections where needed aided massively and shone astonishingly when taking the lead instrumental itself. Screams and strains all round were beastly and cleans mesmerising when sung; some vocals may sound slightly over-processed at points, but doesn’t damage any of the songs to a noticeable degree. Majority of the riff variety kept towards the lower end of the scale and didn’t transition out much expect for a few lighter styled moments. The songs towards the lower middle of the album start to blend together, slightly stripping them of their individuality, but is regained and enormously revived by the remaining 3 tunes. All round the composition made for another distinguishing album, and like the rest of the world, we can’t wait to see it live.

Rating 8/10
The Place After This One is out Friday, March 28th via MNRK Heavy. Pre-order/save here.
Reviewed by Ed Atlas @YourFavouriteMerchGuy

Revisit our chat with Spencer Chamberlain and Aaron Gillespie here