They're (Still) Only Chasing Safety
Looking back at Underoath 20 years after their breakthrough album
Metalcore veterans Underoath announced the They’re Only Chasing Safety 20th Anniversary Tour, in which they will play the monumental album from front to back, along with a second, fan-voted set.
Yes—as of June 15, 2024, it’s been twenty years since Chasing Safety. And, in a way, the giants of MySpace emo-metal are still chasing it. Here are some brief thoughts on the band, as well as my favorite lyrics from every song on Chasing Safety.
Underoath has had a shaky history as a band (typical of most metal bands). They were founded by Dallas Taylor, the vocalist for their first projects, Act of Depression and Cries of the Past—both being much heavier and more raw-sounding than anything Underoath would go on to do. Their first full-length, The Changing of Times, was an underground classic, but Taylor left the band in 2003. He passed the mic to Spencer Chamberlain.
Chamberlain and an all-new Underoath lineup (barring drummer-singer Aaron Gillespie) were at a crossroads: they could choose to hold onto the roots of their small-but-mighty band, or they could craft an album that would match—perhaps even lead—the trajectory for the metalcore scene at the time. They chose to press on, and boy did they deliver.
They’re Only Chasing Safety was released on June 15, 2004, with Wisner Productions. It was the transitional album for Underoath, taking them out of the underground metal scene and placing them center stage. In a 2020 interview, Gillespie marked it as the foundational moment for the band: “They’re Only Chasing Safety was really when it all happened for us. Honestly, Warped Tour 2004 changed everything for us.”
Chasing Safety is Underoath’s most “emo” offering. It’s hard to believe that Spencer Chamberlain’s squeak-ish vocals would become the booming, controlling screams they did, just two years later on Define the Great Line. But, as Gillespie said, “We were kids. The lyrics and music now seem elementary to me, but I was nineteen.” That’s what makes this anniversary tour so special: it’s not a group of rag-tag metalheads trying to make it—they’ve done that, and made some of the best metal albums of the 2000s. This is about memorializing an album that changed everything for the guys who were simply young and aspiring.
Calling Underoath a “Christian band” is controversial. They wore that label through what Spencer Chamberlain calls “the first chapter” of the band, but when they reunited—and went on to release Erase Me—their outlook changed. “One of the best things we ever did was when we agreed not to be a Christian band anymore,” Chamberlain told Revolver. I’d argue, however, that all of their post-Christian-label music pales in comparison to what they did in the 2000s. Even their latest featured verse on Bring Me the Horizon’s “a bulleT w/ my namE On” is Reddit-level atheism with cringeworthy blasphemy throughout—a tragic regression from Chamberlain’s lyrical prowess.
They were not merely metal giants, but Christian metal giants. Many of their lyrics were religious, but they always managed to break into the wider metal scene. The pressure to wear the Christian label was something they all felt; it influenced their writing and relationships and even impacted Chamberlain’s mental health as he battled addiction to drugs.
Nevertheless, in that first chapter, they propelled Christian metal—or metal with Christian-ish lyrics, at least—into the mainstream. It’s quite peculiar when a Christian band can become loved in general. It doesn’t seem so common in other genres—Lecrae is nowhere near as popular as most non-Christian rappers. The They’re Only Chasing Safety tour is special in that it combines both “chapters” of Underoath: the one in which they were all-in on the Christian label, and the one in which they moved on and condemned it. But it isn’t fair to fracture Underoath into two bands; they’re one, a product of their current and past beliefs, their historic albums and their new-era installments.
In a way, Underoath has always just been, well, Underoath. There was nothing like them in the scene. (I argue that they had one of the best three-album runs in the scene with Chasing Safety, Define the Great Line, and Lost in the Sound of Separation.) In the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, they raised the bar (even Forbes noticed!) for the ever-growing trend of livestreamed concerts with the “Observatory” series: live recordings of their three greatest albums. But, other than that, we haven’t heard Chasing Safety deep cuts in quite some time.
I honestly cannot believe I’ve had so many years to listen to, ponder, sing-scream, and love the lyrics on Chasing Safety.
This is, without a doubt, a foundational 2000s metalcore record, so it’s only right to choose the best lyrics from every song on the now 20-year-old album.
Young and Aspiring
I fear that I am just an end
So, you’ll play the mistaken
And I’ll play the victim in our screenplay of desire
And I’m still writing the letters I’ll never send
The album’s opener is fast paced and jumps right into the frenzy of Chamberlain’s vocals. The song has some good lines, including “You’re a classic disaster with a knack for losing your exterior / I’m so sick from staring at the mirror,” but the above lyrics take the cake. Just concentrated emo and culminating what it means to be “young and aspiring” and in love and heartbroken. Yeah, this one holds up.
A Boy Brushed Red Living in Black and White
Your lungs have failed and they’ve both stopped breathing
My heart is dead, it’s way past beating
Something has gone terribly wrong
On a “Christian” metal record, “A Boy Brushed Red” is a quite scandalous but honest song. It talks about the guilt and anxiety that come with taking things too far before marriage, if you will. Building off Gillespie’s quote that “we were just kids,” Underoath seemed to capture the feelings of regret and worry over the sins of one’s youth, quite powerfully. This one still holds up as one of the best Underoath songs ever written, and for good reason.
The Impact of Reason
Prop open the door
I can actually see my breath tonight
But that doesn’t mean I’m breathing
Crack a smile just for the sake of it
This song fits well within the progression of the album; the young, regretful protagonist is now struck with reason, that terribly humbling and paralyzing notion. It leaves him in a sort of stasis: he’s breathing, but is he truly alive? He smiles, but is he happy? These seemingly shallow lyrics run deep.
Reinventing Your Exit
We all wanna be, wanna be somebody
Right now, we’re just looking for the exit
I mean, could you be more quintessentially emo? The classic I-hate-my-hometown-I-need-to-get-out-of-here mantra was solidified with this one. It’s one of my favorites on the album, and this lyric not only speaks to the overall feeling of trying to grow up and become somebody, but also about the realization that sometimes people need to move on from each other—to break up—to become who they really need to be.
The Blue Note (Instrumental)
A perfect little intermission for the album.
It’s Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door
Glass shatters and comes to a halt, I thought we’d be there by now
I thought it would be so much quicker than this
Pain has never been so brilliant, I made sure you were buckled in
Now you can walk hand in hand, hand in hand with him
What a heart-wrenching scene. The protagonists get in a fatal car accident and these are his near-final thoughts. “I made sure you were buckled in,” makes me crumble every time. We truly can’t control everything, no matter how hard we try. But the protagonist hopes his love interest will be in a better place, despite the tragedy.
Down, Set, Go
I’m on my way to the top of the world
And I’ve got a feeling I’ll give it away
A song that describes the duality of living life to the fullest and the capability we all have to give it up for seemingly pointless reasons is encapsulated in these lyrics. “I’ve got a feeling,” he fears, that he’ll give away what might be the best feeling he’s ever felt. The song ends with the line, “you’re not here with me,” repeated four times. Following “It’s Dangerous Business,” this song is clearly a turning point in the album’s story; it’s a long fall for our protagonist.
I Don’t Feel Very Receptive Today
I haven’t talked in days
I’m really not too sure what I sound like anymore
My vision has gone and my mouth is full, is full of sores
Grief and depression are debilitating. The main character feels them both; listening to this song is like reading a page ripped out of his journal, one riddled with brutally honest thoughts wherein he pulls no punches. There are even lyrics about suicidal thoughts—these a stark against the melancholic backdrop of the “I haven’t talked in days” kinds of lyrics. Even the title is apathetic: he’s trying to jolt himself awake from the deep slumber of depression.
I’m Content With Losing
This is what I get for wanting more, for wanting more
This is the way it’s got to be, dancing on all these changes
So, I walk around with this rope in my hand, rope in my hand
So I’ll tie it around and around
And around, I’ll tie me down
This might feel like stage five of the process of grief. If “Down, Set, Go” is denial and bargaining, and “I Don’t Feel…” is depression, then “I’m Content” is acceptance. “This is the way it’s got to be,” he comes to realize, so he ties himself down to the truth—the inescapable feeling of what he loved and lost.
Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape
Hey, unfaithful, I will teach you
To be stronger, to be stronger
Hey, ungraceful, I will teach you
To forgive one another
And Jesus, I’m ready to come home
Jesus, I’m ready to come home
Well, uh, this is awkward. This should be interesting to hear live at the 20th Anniversary Tour… haha.
This has always been one of my favorite Underoath tracks; after such a heartbreaking and treacherous unfolding in Chasing Safety, the album’s closer is so hopeful and honest. It’s about learning from mistakes and sins, and discipling people into a better lifestyle. It’s about longing for home, where the protagonist of this album may see Jesus, and perhaps even his love interest who passed away. It’s a perfect way to end the album.
I’ve Got Ten Friends and a Crowbar That Says You Ain’t Gonna Do Jack (B-Side)
Swimming in a sea of hope tonight
I’ll find your hand and trace it with mine
As we push away with everything we have
The infamous Chasing Safety B-side is honestly a banger. It should have made it somewhere on the original cut, but I’m just glad it’s available now. It captures, yet again, the “young and aspiring” feelings of love and youthfulness.