Pittsburgh hardcore band Code Orange is back offering their signature, refreshing take on hardcore and metalcore with Underneath. This album is loaded with crushing, heavy riffage and breakdowns with a more industrial take which they began to explore on their past record from 2017, Forever.
In addition to further exploration into their electronic influence, the record provides a lot of social commentary in the lyrics, dealing with themes of self-reflection and how people judge others and face tragedies in the internet age.
The album opens up with a short intro track entitled, “[deeperthanbefore].”
In an interview with Kerrang!, vocalist Jami Morgan describes that the purpose of the track is to “[set] the scene in a lot of ways for the world that you’re going to inhabit on the record. Thematically, it ties some loose ends up from the past couple records and it opens up new doors to what we’re getting ready to embark on.”
It features some dark, ambient synths and bursts of harsh noise samples in between some whispered vocals before some pounding drum machines under some dark piano and swirling, distorted vocal samples come in beginning the opening track “Swallowing the Rabbit Whole.” This track features crushing riffs and hardcore breakdowns that have been chopped up and broken up wtith instances of silence before making a passage into skank beats–reminicent of a more classic hardcore sound. It is also accompanied by a music video that is worth checking out.
The crushing riffs in classic Code Orange fashion continue on the next track “In Fear.” This track features more of the glitchy electronic elements that the band has incorporated into their sound, complete with choppy rests worked into the breakdowns and distorted scream samples, but they have also added clean, melodic passages and chorus pads that the keys lay down to accompany it.
The band continues on with this newly established blend of hardcore and industrial into the song “You and You Alone,” which opens up with fast, beat-down drums and electronic-accompanied guitars that drop out abruptly to feature some short, whispered vocals, similar to the ones on “[deeperthanbefore].” In the same interview that was mentioned before, Jami explains these whispers when talking about the song “Cold Metal Place” as “‘The whispering souls,’ which is this buzzing voice of opinion and constant criticism and positivity and just noise that you’re always hearing”, coinciding with the record’s theme of people’s criticism and behavior in wake of the internet.
“Who I Am” comes through as the next song, breaking up the tracklisting with a more melodic and pop-influenced sound as opposed to the more hardcore-based tracks that came before it. With guitarist Reba Meyers on lead vocals, the song continues a sound that was explored on their last record with songs like “Bleeding in the Blur”, but in the vein of this record, features more electronic programming and drum machines.
The hardcore continues with sludgy riffing on the next track “Cold Metal Place,” which deals with the theme of the landscape of the internet free-for-all that we live in in this day and age. Ending with an ambient sample that almost sounds like room noise, the album shifts gears into “Sulfur Surround”, which features an opening with some dark acoustic guitars and emotional electric leads. The track is different from most of the others on the album since it is almost reminiscent of a traditional heavy metal ballad. Featuring an emotional, brooding chorus with Reba on lead vocals, the song makes its way through hard and heavy down-tempo riffs, which make for a nice contrast. The band doesn’t incorporate the electronic sound on this particular track as much, but when they do, it is at exactly the right time and compliments the track perfectly.
The next track, “The Easy Way” does the exact opposite and goes all out with programmed drum machines and industrial programming driving the instrumentals. There is also undeniable Nine Inch Nails influence present here as Jami heavily channels Trent Reznor in his vocal performance and some electronics strongly resemble those on the Nine Inch Nails hit “Closer.”
“Erasure Scan” and “The Last Ones Left” come next, progressing the album closer towards the end with more heavy songs. “Erasure Scan” offers a more industrial-driven song about the way humans move on from tragedy more quickly and have become more desensitized to things like school shootings while “Last One Left” offers a more chuggy, hardcore sound with triplet picked guitars, almost reminicient of a Slipknot song.
“Autumn and Carbine” is a more stripped back and less intricate song in terms of instrumentals, but still offers an incredible punch and features Reba on lead vocals. The song deals with the toxicity of celebrity culture and is more melodic as it features clean vocals, but is more of a heavy song as it maintains a gritty and dark tone, while including heavy riffage.
“Back Inside the Glass,” an upbeat hardcore song that features Jami on vocals, begins as a traditional Code Orange-style hardcore song, but goes into a groove on the chorus that sounds a bit like a nu metal song, similar to the style of Korn. “A Sliver” is a new industrial take on a song they would have released on their previous album I Am King, which features dreary melodies that come from grunge influence.
The album finishes off with the title track “Underneath” which Jami describes as a cliffhanger ending to the album’s themes of self-reflection and taking what you’ve learned from it to make future decisions. The track features both heavy industrial and hardcore influence, but presents them one at a time throughout the song’s duration.
Overall, Code Orange provides a solid selection of songs that really showcase that they are breaking new ground for hardcore and metalcore in 2020. This album features interesting production and composition choices all around as it is refreshingly gritty, glitchy and distorted yet crisp and clean to let the dark, emotional spots shine through. It also provides social commentary that is relevant in today’s social climate, making it more topical and interesting than some of the other hardcore or metalcore that is out there.
The only problem I really have with this album is that the electronic elements sometimes cloud the songs by adding too much and becoming too busy. Although that sound can add to the grit and intensity of the record, you can see that when they use the programming and synths sparingly like they do on “Sulfur Surround”, the songs really shine. However, Underneath is definitely worth a listen for fans and those who aren’t familiar with the genres of hardcore and metalcore, as this record really breaks boundries for the genre, giving it the capability to have a wider appeal.
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