posted 09/30/2008 (Tue) @ 08:00 am
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Anberlin - New Surrender (2008)
Pop-Rock / Hard Rock
The Feel Good Band
- The Resistance
- Breaking
- Blame Me! Blame Me!
- Retrace
- Feel Good Drag
- Disappear
- Breathe
- Burn Out Brighter (Northern Lights)
- Younglife
- Haight St.
- Soft Skeletons
- Miserabile Visu (Ex Malo Bonum)
Radiohead seem to be the only alt-rock band ever allowed by the masses to drastically alter their sound and still get played on the radio. Why is anyone’s guess. You just have to be Radiohead, apparently.
Early Anberlin strays closer to Nirvana than singer Stephen Christian’s professed favorite “Optimistic” band. The two-chord onslaught of “Never Take Friendship Personal” (from the album of the same name) couched bitter anger in loud, simple, straightforward guitar hooks. This, and Tooth & Nail labelmates Underoath, spurred critics and fans alike to lump Anberlin in with screamo/hardcore flavors of the month despite an undeniable poppier undercurrent to their music.
Their record Cities saw them chasing after the trail blazed by Thom and the gang. Anberlin tossed some electronica into their sound, resulting in driving anthems like the treadmill-worthy “There Is No Mathematics to Love and Loss” and its blitzkrieg synthesizer solo. For better or worse, that influence continues, mostly unchanged, on New Surrender.
“Disappear” is the most obvious about it: it tosses rock ‘n’ roll and synthesizers into the blender again, opening with a deliciously jagged, square wave flavored riff. “Breathe” fills out Anberlin’s softer acoustic side, carrying on where “The Unwinding Cable Car” left off. “Feel Good Drag” is a refueled, glossy (and in some ways, hollow) re-record of one of Never Take Friendship Personal’s most infectious tracks, primed for radio airplay, while closer “Miserabile Visu” delves into the end of ages and apocalypse: “Whatever may fall at the end of the world, you’ll still be loved.” At almost seven minutes long, the song’s lugubrious pace brings it from near silence to a majestic, distortion-laced close accented with stabs of weeping, screaming stadium rock guitar. It’s an abnormally epic and refreshing turn for this band, who are not exactly known for restraint, or slow-burning story songs.
In fact, in the face of “Miserabile Visu,” some of the poppier moments (”Younglife”) dull after repeated listening, but fans who are still with this band won’t be disappointed with New Surrender. Anberlin haven’t lost any skill in writing their particular brand of power-pop/rock hooks, and deliver a solid, upbeat record yet again. Maybe not the first thing you reach for in your darkest hour—unless your darkest hour includes stepping onto the treadmill again—but great, upbeat pop-rock that will fit the bill if you like jumping around air-guitarring.
“Feel Good Drag”
Tags: electronic influence, energy, good, pop rock, rock
