Though the album was critically well received and led to the band being featured in director Penelope Spheeris' film Suburbia, it was largely rejected by their fanbase within the punk scene.

[1] Its combination of hardcore punk with horror film- and gothic-inspired subject matter had put the band at the forefront of what was becoming known as "Death Rock".

[2][3][4] Their subsequent EP, 1982's Weathered Statues, was released through Alternative Tentacles, the record label run by Jello Biafra and East Bay Ray of fellow California hardcore band the Dead Kennedys, with whom T.S.O.L.

[1][5] Grisham credited himself as Jack Delauge on the sleeve, following a tradition of using a different pseudonym on each release both to confuse audiences and to hide his true identity from the police.

had put out a record that equaled Meat Loaf when it came to sheer sonic pomposity but still retained their gothic punk leanings.

[4] Robert Christgau gave the album a "B" score, criticizing Grisham's lyrics as uninteresting but calling the musicality "so robust and determined it blows all suspicions of nostalgia away.

"[8] Joe Viglione of Allmusic rated the album 4½ stars out of 5, praising Wilson's production, Grisham's questioning vocals, and the clever nuances of Kuehn's keyboards: "Rather than merely copying, T.S.O.L.

[4][5] Mike Boehm of the Los Angeles Times commented that "Beneath the Shadows was drenched in rainy romanticism accented by glistening piano and synthesizer shimmers.

"[13] Steven Blush, author of American Hardcore: A Tribal History, writes that "the experimental nature of '82's Weathered Statues EP bewildered some fans, but T.S.O.L.

As a wave of hardcore bands tried a more 'mature' sound in the vein of The Damned, it made sense at the time, but constituted a suicidal career move.

"[5] According to Grisham, the use of synthesizers was unpopular with the hardcore punk crowd: The trouble with being a popular band is that all your changes are aired for the public.

Here was this most fascinating outgrowth of punk — they could've been our Damned or Siouxsie and the Banshees — retaining the original guts and drive, taking it into this unique direction.

[4] He renounced hardcore to continue in the musical direction of Beneath the Shadows, playing with the keyboard-driven Cathedral of Tears and then with Barnes in Tender Fury.

[16] Guitarist Ron Emory and bassist Mike Roche continued on as T.S.O.L., bringing in singer Joe Wood and drummer Mitch Dean.

[17] Though Barnes died in 2000, the band continued on with other drummers and released two studio albums on Nitro, with Kuehn returning for 2003's Divided We Stand.

[21] All tracks are written by Jack Grisham, Ron Emory, Mike Roche, Todd Barnes, and Greg Kuehn[6][6]