The Pittsburgh hardcore punk band then followed up with daily updates of cryptic words and images on Facebook and Twitter accounts: abstract visuals in black and metallic dark blue, black and white photos of individual band members posted with numbers counting down from five alongside an hourglass emoji, short video loops of abrasive noise and more of that black and blue color palette, and a phone number with a 412 area code that brought callers to a 25-second recorded message of people screaming and children crying. It frightened my coworkers. A minute after the number was called, a text arrived reading "openthedoor : complete the form to stay in touch." (Some on Twitter received a text reading "take a good look at you," though I did not.)
@codeorangetoth making me face the facts pic.twitter.com/IG2OkY9Xw2
— Miles Monroe (@hackhaxa) December 27, 2019
These are all fittingly unique and confusing promotions for the ambitious, genre-busting, Grammy-nominated band, but the website is truly next-level. The site resembles the opening level of a first-person video game: you're lying down in the middle of a room (more black and metallic blue), surrounded by shiny faceless bipeds and objects (the hourglass, speakers, a blood-splattered clock, a chainsaw, a sign reading "What is really underneath?").
Throughout the room are clickable hyperlinks, many of which go to unlisted YouTube videos ranging from 10 seconds to around a minute, featuring more abrasive noise and cryptic imagery. Clicking the TV set with the band's oft-used panther silhouette goes to codeorangetoth.com, their main website. The rotary phone calls the aforementioned 412 number. And finally, the hourglass goes to a separate site with a countdown to midnight on Fri., Jan. 10.
And as expected, the tracklisting for Underneath, due out March 13, 2020, landed on Apple Music and Spotify. Take a listen to the title track here or view the video below.
