Frontman Jami Morgan said that the album "was a 24-hour-a-day obsession for us for about two years." This led Code Orange to cancel a European tour cycle in 2019, including an appearance at England's Bloodstock Open Air, in order to focus solely on writing and recording. The band reached out to prolific producer and musician Chris Vrenna through the album's producer Nick Raskulinecz, who helped Eric Balderose in the electronics, the arrangement of the many layers of production and the use of white noise. Reba Meyers had to readapt her guitar work to imitate electronic instruments, and she also recorded many unusual sounds which they mixed with samples, making a "bank of" them used in different songs. Morgan further commented that writing Underneath "was like a factory… everyone working towards this goal." While making the album, Morgan regularly talked to and sent material of Underneath to his friend Greg Puciato of the Dillinger Escape Plan and the Black Queen, who gave him feedback on it. The singer was one of the first people to hear the record, and Morgan called him a "mentor."
Promotion
The band released music videos directed by Max Moore for the title song "Underneath" on 10 January 2020 and for the song "Swallowing the Rabbit Whole" on February 7, 2020. The third single, "Sulfur Surrounding", with a video animated and directed by the band's Eric Balderose, was released on March 9. On December 19, 2019, Code Orange launched whatisreallyunderneath.com, a website that presented visitors with an interactive panoramic photo. On March 14, 2020, Code Orange performed a live streamed album release concert in an empty venue on Twitch due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The performance was later officially released on YouTube and a limited-edition DVD. On June 7, they performed "Underneath" at as it was the official theme song.
Critical reception
Underneath was met with critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 84, which indicates "universal acclaim", based on 9 reviews. The record also received an average score of 8.0 from AnyDecentMusic?, normalized rating out of 10. Clash critic John Gray described the record as "practically a horror movie in audio form," stating that the "sheer, clear-eyed ambition they exhibit in pursuing the impossible is compelling enough to make Underneath an absolute must-hear for anyone who dares to dream differently." Consequence of Sounds Joseph Schafer thought that the record "delivers on every promise in a sleek, incredibly catchy package and does it all in under 50 minutes." Reviewing for Exclaim!, Connor Atkinson noted: "Code Orange usher in a new era with Underneath that will alienate sections of their audience, and bring their us-against-you might to places no Pittsburgh band have gone before." Ben Beaumont-Thomas of The Guardian wrote: "In rock, technical brilliance can sometimes impede immediacy, but Code Orange use it to achieve total and thrilling omnipotence. They are a reminder that visionary music never wears a genre tag."
Accolades
Track listing
Personnel
Code Orange
Eric Balderose – vocals, keyboards, programming, mixing
