Code Orange: Underneath (Translucent Blue & Black LP)

Underneath is the fourth studio album by American hardcore punk band Code Orange, released on March 13, 2020 through Roadrunner Records. It is their first album to be produced by Nick Raskulinecz. The album was also produced by Jami Morgan and Will Yip. It was preceded by three singles: Underneath, Swallowing the Rabbit Whole, and Sulfur Surrounding. The album continues the band’s metalcore and hardcore punk sound with a heavier emphasis on industrial and electronic elements. The album received critical acclaim with critics praising the use of glitches and electronics and the overall production in general.

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.

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.”