IN REVIEW: Code Orange - "Underneath"

There has always been a degree of controlled chaos at play in the music of Code Orange; as they have progressed over the last decade or so, they have built a reputation not just for threading the needle between the brutal and the melodic, but for indeed pulling heavy music kicking and screaming out some of its most tired clichés. On their last outing, 2017's Forever, they pushed at the boundaries of what was expected even for them, allowing glitchy industrial flourishes into their hardcore/extreme compositions as a way to keep things unsettling and interesting. Moreover, they dared to swing the pendulum further to the other side as well, letting themselves explore their more accessible urges. The result was a minor hit in Reba Meyers-sung alt-rock howler Bleeding in the Blur, which led to Code Orange being commissioned to write the entrance theme for WWE wrestler Bray Wyatt, in what I think is one of the oddest ways a heavy band can rise to fame.

Minor successes aside, it's Code Orange's willingness to do anything and everything to their songs in service to their idea of what the art form can be that has made them one of metal's most intriguing stories in recent years. It's made Underneath a very hotly anticipated album, as fans and critics alike have been clamoring to find out just how far this band is willing to push themselves.

Hints of what would become Underneath were found in a pair of under-the-radar releases from 2018; Only One Way, released as a one-off in February of that year, featured Meyers singing over a thunderous Alice in Chains-like riff-fest that heavily featured electronic textures, while a 3-track EP unleashed in June featured two new songs alongside a remix of Forever's Hurt Goes On, including the glitched-out thrasher 3 Knives, which featured a cacophony of noises both man and machine-made (including a, er, Duran Duran sample?).

Underneath seeks to expand even further on the band's sound, and the evidence comes early and often; Swallowing the Rabbit Whole starts with a stuttering beat, pitched and screwed voices and stabbing piano before exploding into a monstrous, guttural riff and the unhinged, multi-layered vocals of Eric Balderose and Jami Morgan, then picking up speed and incorporating periodic unpredictable full-stops, like a CD skipping under the weight of all the sound it's being forced to endure.

These unpredictable synapse flashes pepper Underneath, creating an environment where it's impossible for the listener to get too comfortable or complacent; it's an interesting technique, but it's also undeniably an effective method of holding attention. These experiments are often accompanying the heaviest songs this band has gifted us with to date, such as the full-fledged attack of In Fear (which ends with a blood-curdling scream for good measure) and the deathcore rampage You and You Alone, which features an effect that sounds like a cross between a sped-up tape effect and ringing bells before going full Nine Inch Nails in the bridge. Then, there's late-album bomb track Back Inside the Glass, which should assuage any fears of Code Orange "going soft" once and for all.

In case you're wondering, yes, there are accessible moments. Even they get a little blood under the nails, though; current single Sulfur Surrounding finds Meyers pushing her voice toward pained screams during the album's biggest chorus, while The Easy Way is the heaviest song Linkin Park never got the chance to record and I mean that as a compliment. Then, of course, there's the title track and lead single, presented here as the closing track of the album. It's got a huge hook, but it's also got a restless beat and a futuristic, panic-stricken aesthetic that seems especially on point in 2020.

Underneath is often at its best, however, when it straddles the band's two extremes; Cold.Metal.Place is about as cathartic as heavy music gets, and it does it by fully embracing both the genre's primal instincts and Code Orange's electronically-enhanced vision of what heavy music can become. It's full of glitches, synthesizers and sudden shifts, but anyone who would deny its brutality needs to turn in their Pig Destroyer records and call it a day. Ditto Last Ones Left, an absolute juggernaut of a song that propels itself on screeching samples and a chugging riff before devolving into a pitch-shifted nightmare in its second verse. Then, there's penultimate track A Sliver, which starts as an eerie, atmospheric ballad before supercharging into a double-timed sonic attack at the two-minute mark and then getting chopped and screwed in its last minute.

By times, admittedly, the crafting of the songs is more memorable than the songs themselves. However, when it all hits to the extent of its intent, Underneath offers a stunning glimpse into the future of extreme music; as their longest album to date by a full 13 minutes, it's their grandest statement and a technical marvel, an explosion of creativity and sound, and one that coincides with what I can only assume is Code Orange operating at peak efficiency. Whether or not it gets better for them from here remains to be seen, but after listening to their wildest and most thrilling work to date, one thing's for certain; none of us can possibly know what's coming next.

March 13, 2020 • Roadrunner
Highlights In Fear • Sulfur Surrounding • Underneath