The album has been tagged with various genres including screamo and melodic hardcore and features subtle references to Christianity.

[1] It was the band's first release through Solid State Records; it marked a line-up change with the appearance of guitarist Timothy McTague and bassist William Nottke.

Vocalist Dallas Taylor left the 2003 Warped Tour,[2] and My Synopsis singer Matt Tarpey stood in for him for some shows.

[18] Andrew Segal of Cross Rhythms described the album as nu metal, and said it is on the heavier side of the rock scale, is well produced and "shows more signs of intelligence than the [nu-metal] genre is often credited with".

[19] Andrew Sacher, writing for Brooklyn Vegan, referred to They're Only Chasing Safety as "one of melodic metalcore's biggest mainstream breakthroughs".

[12] McTague used "Your New Aesthetic" (1999) by Jimmy Eat World as a template for "A Boy Brushed Red Living in Black and White".

[27] "It's Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door" is a murder ballad that features 1980s-esque electronic parts; it recalls the work of the Used[28][25][29] and its bridge section includes a choir from a local church.

[30] "Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape" is reminiscent of the work of Copeland, being anchored around an electronica beat, and was intended to show Underoath "wearing their hearts on their sleeves".

[11][31][32] McTague said the song deals with a person "realizing the error of [their] ways, asking for forgiveness and making a vow to start over and do what's right".

[11] "I've Got Ten Friends and a Crowbar That Says You Ain't Gonna Do Jack" was written and recorded for the album's 2005 reissue.

[36] On April 21, 2004, They're Only Chasing Safety was announced for release in two months' time; alongside this, "Reinventing Your Exit" was posted on the band's Purevolume profile.

[43] "Reinventing Your Exit" was released to radio on February 22, 2005; the music video for the song was filmed in Brooklyn, New York City.

[44][45] Underoath wanted to release "A Boy Brushed Red Living in Black and White", which they felt was more representative of the album's sound, but Solid State Records opted for something closer to The Changing of Times track "When the Sun Sleeps".

[54] It was filmed in Hollywood with director Josh Graham, and depicts the band performing in a forest after having been involved in a car crash.

[59] They're Only Chasing Safety was included in a three-CD set called Play Your Old Stuff: An Underoath Anthology (2011), alongside The Changing of Times and their fifth studio album Define the Great Line (2006).

[60] They're Only Chasing Safety was packaged with Define the Great Line as a two-LP set to promote the band's 2016 Rebirth Tour, during which they performed both albums in full.

[61][62] They're Only Chasing Safety was then included with Define the Great Line and their sixth studio album Lost in the Sound of Separation as part of the Underoath Observatory (2021) vinyl box set.

[62] "A Boy Brushed Red Living in Black and White", "Reinventing Your Exit", and "It's Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door" were included on the band's second and third compilation albums Anthology: 1999–2013 (2012) and Icon (2014).

[19] The staff at HM Magazine saw it as a band evolving as they incorporate more melody, and "while it has ups and downs as a complete album, several songs approach greatness".

[66] Len Nash of The Phantom Tollbooth noted that the band had change styles to emo, which would serve as a "better position to compete against many mainstream artists".

[70] musicOMH reviewer Vik Bansal also pointed out the musical shift to emo, and said the album "does little to raise the heartbeat or send frissons down the spine".

[25] Punk Planet's Scott Morrow wrote that apart from a "few legitimately decent moments", he struggled to sit through the album, citing the "trite and whiny singsong sound and can't-you-hear-the-pain-in-my-voice?

[71] Fred Pilarczyk of mxdwn considered it a "safe album in all aspects, from the vocals, instrumentation, and production" with every song "follow[ing] a similar formula".