Music Reaffirmed Faith
By Angelo Florendo
There are bands that change your life with their music. They are not just groups of musicians who make people want to listen to them more, or to garner anything or everything related to their music. It's not just through lyrics that grasp onto you. Their music gets you through the best, or worst of days. The Florida Christian metalcore sextet, Underoath did that for me. They made me want to play music, as well as give Christianity another heartfelt chance.
I was raised in a Roman Catholic home. When I was younger, I went to church every Sunday, I was taught about The Bible and I tried to apply Catholic teachings to my every day life. Things began to change as I grew up. I stopped going to church and bible messages appeared outdated. I still believed in God, and that He sent His only son to die on the cross for our sins. I would consider myself a Christian. I just was not inspired by Christianity.
I got into BMX at 14 years old. I watched BMX movies and immersed myself in that lifestyle. It was during this time I heard of Underoath for the first time. In 2003, I watched the Hoffman BMX video entitled “Testimony.” One of the riders had “The Last” from their 2000 EP “Cries of the Past” playing in the background of their video portion. It confused me at first. I could not understand a single word the lead singer screamed. The vocals were an ensemble of incomprehensible high pitched screaming which could be compared to bats out of hell. It was also confusing because there were single frame clips of a depicted Jesus Christ dying on the cross throughout the video. I did not think much of that subliminal message. I focused more on the music.
A few days after I heard that song, I wanted to know if the lead singer sang coherent words or if it was a rhythmic collection of mindless babble that worked with the metal genre. The lyrics intrigued me the most. They had the same lyrical consistency as black metal, which included an abundance of dark imagery. The final line, which said, “I'll never forget that night that Jesus Christ made the blackness white” had a calming aspect to it. Every line within the song had a sense of despair, pain and hopelessness up until that line. It was as though it the lyrics mimicked the struggles of people up until the point where they found that sense of safety. This safety was Christianity.
That combination was cheesy at first. Metal and Christianity? It sounded weird to me. Bear in mind I was biased towards pop-punk and everything that was not of that genre was daft and lame. On top of that, I was not interested in being an active Christian. I had dismissed it for the previous years, up until I was 16 and there was an Underoath music video that played on FUSE TV. It did not sound bad at all. It was catchy and there were elements of the music that mixed what liked about rock and mixed it with metal-esque themes. I did not know it was called “post-hardcore/screamo” then. Underoath was still had that heavy metal aspect, but they had that melodious rock genre that I loved. They got a new lead singer who did not possess that same screechy voice as the previous singer. I walked to the store the next day and picked up their 2004 release, “They're Only Chasing Safety.” All their songs were devoid of the black metal themes prevalent in their older albums because of line-up changes and style changes. The only things that Underoath did not change were their Christian beliefs. All of these elements were prevalent in their music. The final track on that album entitled “Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Other Escape,” was heavily laden in Christian worship. The song was good, and the message did not sound cheesy. It had a passion that I could respect and it did so in a way that felt cool at the time.
The first time I saw them play was at the House of Blues in Las Vegas when I was 17. I had just moved from California to Nevada, so I knew nobody. That did not bother me at all. I was glad I was not with anyone when I saw them. Anyone who accompanied me to that concert would have diminished the experience. I waited patiently for them to come on stage. The first two bands were good, but my mind was focused on Underoath and headliner, Thrice. Underoath went on third. Their performance well exceeded my expectations.
They were good, really good. Halfway through their set, Underoath's new lead screamer, Spencer Chamberlain spoke to the audience, “We do what we do in the name of Jesus Christ, our lord and savior. I don't say this to sound cool or make people feel uncomfortable. If you do not agree with that, its cool. We still want to talk to you and hang out.”
One interesting thing about Underoath is that they take some time to explain their Christian beliefs to the audience. I was intrigued by what Chamberlain had to say. Nothing about what he said made me feel uncomfortable. It made me feel better about myself. They did not preach about their beliefs nor made attempts to shove religion down people's throats. Their message was based on personal relationships with Christianity. Chamberlain revealed that his life as well as the band's lives were changed because of the role Christianity had during their rough times whether it be divorce or drug addictions.
I did not see Thrice play because I had school the next day. It did not affect me. I felt enlightened and inspired, not just by Underoath, but with Christianity as well. I spent the next year or so trying to act more Christian. I attended church willingly. I tried to adopt the Bible's teachings into my life and I tried to live better as a Christian. I even joined a Christian post-hardcore band after high school. We played anywhere we could, preferably churches and we tried to spread the word about Christianity as much as possible.
The next year and a half began a slow decline away from Christianity. My band broke up and I did not feel as inclined to become more Christian. I experimented with various churches. Almost all of them turned me away from Christianity. Their messages felt exclusive. Peers who were “saved” shunned people who were not and immediately saw them as lost causes. That was confusing to no end. I thought that it was the church environment that made me to want to stray. My next alternative was to attend concerts that were composed of Christian bands. It did not help. It made it worse. A month after my band broke up, I went to a local show at a youth ministry that had Christian hardcore and metal-core bands. They were all good, but their messages reeked of insincerity and phoniness. There
I understood that Christians should help to teach the word of Christ and to help save people, but I did not see many of them follow through with it. I saw hypocrisy with my Christian peers. People who looked town on adulterating people cheated on their significant other and lied about it. Their ideals about homosexuality made me feel uncomfortable.
However, I still loved listening to Underoath and I loved the message they sent in regards to their faith. I saw them play again in October of 2007. That feeling that I got the first time I saw them returned in an instant. That disappointment I had dispersed. I realized then that I should not lose faith in Christianity. It prompted me to follow the teachings in a way that would make me a better person and a better Christian. But I would go about it without falling into the conformity and contradictions that caused me discomfort like the other places I tried to join.
There was quote that was brought up by one of my close friends when he referenced Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. The parody of former president George W. Bush made a point that made sense. Just exchange the notions for America and the government and replace them with Christianity. He said “You don't have to believe in your government to be a good American, you just gotta believe in your country.” You do not have to be a part of a Christian religion to be a good Christian.
