CODE ORANGE - Underneath

Formed in Pittsburgh in 2008 as a hardcore-punk band under the name Code Orange Kids, they gradually shifted toward metalcore over time. While "I Am King" ('14) blurs the lines between post-grunge, metalcore and hardcore-punk, "Forever" (2017) brings the band to full maturity with injections of noise and industrial, crystallizing the blend into chameleonic, schizophrenic tracks that don't shy away from clear post-grunge echoes.

Promoted via a live-streamed concert on Twitch, "Underneath" tries to push beyond the formula of "Forever", merging metalcore and post-grunge with the mechanical-technological dystopia of Fear Factory and early Strapping Young Lad, through a sound that manages to be both brutal and mainstream, at times decidedly crowd-pleasing and elsewhere feverishly chaotic and futuristic. There's also something of the glitch aesthetic, filtered through metal the way The Algorithm did on "Polymorphic Code" (2012), alongside cacophonous excess and tormented emotional explorations worthy of Nine Inch Nails.

Fundamental to the band is the vocal duo of Eric Balderose (also keyboards) and Reba Meyers (also guitars), which smooths the transition between stylistic extremes, much as it did for System Of A Down, especially in their “Mezmerize”/“Hypnotize” phase. The alt-metal world of the late '90s/early 2000s, after all, offers a fitting point of comparison for the sprawling style the band puts forward: it can hardly be a coincidence that their admirers include the likes of Corey Taylor, and it wouldn't be surprising to hear of interest from Robert Conrad “Robb” Flynn or Camillo Wong Moreno.

With the style mapped out, let's talk about the tracks. The jump-scare of “(deeperthanbefore)” introduces “Swallowing The Rabbit Whole”, a tormented industrial-metal labyrinth with hardcore-punk residue and digital details enlivening a metalcore soul. “In Fear” opts for spectacular electronic manipulations to shape its sonic assault, never skimping on moments of ferocious sonic violence, a trait carried on into “You And You Alone”.

The register shifts with “Who I Am”, a post-grunge/alt-metal hybrid run through a digital filter, or like Linkin Park in the midst of a psychotic breakdown. “Cold.Metal.Place” pounds the eardrums for a couple of minutes, then breaks apart into monstrous glitches and an agonizing tension-filled pause. “Sulfur Surrounding” strikes a balance between power and catchiness that few contemporaries can match, only partly replicated in “A Sliver” and “Underneath”. “The Easy Way” merges pop-metal with brutal electronics.

Making up for the more accommodating moments are “Erasure Scan”, with spectacular rhythmic exercises and murky midtempo grooves, and “Last Ones Left”, with an epic slowdown in its closing stretch. The schizophrenic peak is reached with “Back Inside The Glass”, a multi-faced monster locked in constant internal struggle.

The album's limitation is that lack of direction that hung over so many bands' work between the two millennia, with eclecticism spilling over into confusion: an indecision that was understandable back then, but is less so today. Too many ideas and far too many ideas thrown in, then, alongside plenty of nods to the past. Still, it remains one of the most interesting, if belated, works straddling mainstream and alt-metal in recent years. Widespread acclaim from international critics, unusual for this kind of record.

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14/05/2020