Today's Throwback Thursday will focus on hardcore/screamo band UnderOath's 2004 album They're Only Chasing Safety, which is highly regarded as a ground breaking album.

UnderOath had their humble beginnings in Florida as a death metal/metalcore band. The band contained completely different members than their later years, except for mainstay drummer Aaron Gillespie. They released Act of Depression and Cries of the Past to moderate underground success.

It was not until 2002's The Changing of Times that the band really picked up steam. They fine tuned their sound away from the heavy and brutal death metal sound and went the melodic metalcore route.

By the time They're Only Chasing Safety came out, the band had a new lead vocalist, Spencer Chamberlain. Longtime frontman Dallas Taylor was replaced after three albums, and the direction of the music took a huge turn. Original member, Gillespie, became a chief songwriter and began singing just as much as Chamberlain's screaming. Prior to this album, all of the vocals were screamed with small bouts of spoken word or lightly sung parts. It was this dynamic that propelled the band into the top of their genre for the years to come.

(Photo : Underoath)
Underoath

Most bands had a singer who screamed and sang. UnderOath switched up the dynamic by having two vocalists do distinctly different things, which also added an awesome opportunity for layering vocals with both singing and guttural screams. This has become more common since UnderOath started doing it.

This album has gone on to sell over 500,000 copies, and spawned smash singles "Reinventing Your Exit," "It's Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door," and fan favorite "A Boy Brushed Red...Living in Black and White."

Toward the end of 2005, their label Solid State re-released the album with four additional tracks and a bonus DVD.

They're Only Chasing Safety Track Listing:
Young and Aspiring
A Boy Brushed Red...Living in Black and White
The Impact of Reason
Reinventing Your Exit
The Blue Note
It's Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door
Down, Set Go
I Don't Feel Very Receptive Today
I'm Content with Losing
Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape
BONUS TRACKS:
I've Got Ten Friends and a Crowbar That Says You Ain't Gonna Do Jack
The 80's Song
You're So Intricate
Smic Tague

UnderOath would go on to release Define the Great Line, Lost in the Sound of Separation, and Disambiguation.

Gillespie left the band prior to their last album in 2010, and the band disbanded in January 2013.

UnderOath will always be known as one of the biggest Christian rock bands of all time, and even one of the biggest bands in the genre over the last 10 years overall. However, it was their 2004 release that put them on the map. Listen to some of the album's tracks below: