Anberlin (Official Thread)

Soot and Stars

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One day while browsing for new bands at one of my favorite music stores Bullmoose Music I eyed this c.d.

Never Take Friendship Personal

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The cover was cool! The price was right! The thirst for a new band was present! I bought it! I loved it! Such a simple story for finding this band actually opened the door for something deeper and more revelatory in my musical journey!

It is both unfair and necessary to Anberlin to bring up their spiritual presence in their music. It's unfair because they are on par and above many other bands musically that I know and they should stand on their own for that alone. It's necessary to expel on the matter though because it's an element of who they are as a band and the way they have approached is one huge element of why I hold them as an important band in my musical journey.

My experience with Christian/Spiritual music was horrid at it's worst and lukewarm at best! I remember cringing at singing anything in church. I spent more time trying not to laugh during Jesus Loves Me than God may be able to forgive me for! :lmao: The best word for those hymns was hokey. When it came to Christian bands in the secular aspect of music I wanted to vomit at the saccharine sweetness of Bob Carlisle, Thought Amy Grant was the equivalent of a shitty Hallmark card and for the "bands" that were Christian "rock" I wanted to give myself a lobotomy due "to the amateur paint by numbers copycat playing and beat you over the head in case you were to stupid to realize we love Jesus unless we tell you in the most straight forward dumbed down way possible" nature of the bands!

In college I had a group of Jesus ummmm.... devotees :D as friends and they would play popular Christian Pop rock groups like The Newsboys and Jars of Clay. Lukewarm was the only thing to say about that. When I moved to Rhode Island I met a guy who only bought music that was Christian rock oriented! I said screw it and borrowed a whole binder of c.d.s from him. Out of that whole binder I found minute potential at most. Bands like Skillet, Kutless and early Relient K showed that they wanted to be something more but they still lacked anything that defined them as anything more than a cut and paste version of popular bands with Christian text inserted.

Then things started happening. Slowly! I'll leave the obvious influence of Creed out and touch upon another factor I believe aided in the growth of Christian based music into the secular world.

I attribute a big change to the Evanescence controversy. When they came out before making it huge with their major label debut Fallen they had beginnings as a band that was sold in Christian Rock Outlets. For a period the Fallen c.d. was sold in those outlets. This was until Evanescence was outed for this and they retracted the fact that they would fall under the Christian banner of music. After this there was a backlash and the Christian community stopped selling their c.d.s and spoke out about Evanescence's betrayal to their roots. Regardless of this ridiculous issue I think this spawned a change in the industry. Evanescence proved that with quality music and songwriting a band that has a spiritual aspect to their music could sell to the masses.

Soon bands like P.O.D., Lifehouse and later Switchfoot with a spiritual message helped kick down the doors without anyone knowing that they were listening to a band that was touching upon themes that used to be limited to a certain section of the music community.

In my opinion, this was just as much a maturation in songwriting and a growth of talent as a marketing ploy. Business is business after all but as result thankfully we had bands writing about faith that related to the world itself and people as humans who were susceptible to flaws and mistakes. No longer did it preach but instead it acknowledged a struggle with faith as a part of life as well. Finally, we had songwriting that came from a spiritual place that people could relate to regardless of which denomination they partook in or even if they had no faith at all. The music wove human qualities into the music and finally spoke to them instead of shouting at them.

So after all this, even though I'd bought music by some of the previously mentioned bands it was buying that c.d. in the Bullmoose shop that broke open the floodgates for an open mindedness towards the spiritual theme in music! After this I stumbled across some of my favorite bands/artist like Blindside, Mae, Further Seems Forever, Acceptance, Waking Ashland, Mat Kearney, The Almost, Flyleaf, Jon McLaughlin, Mindy Smith, The Afters, The Honorary Title and Jackson Waters. Also recent albums by Switchfoot and Relient K have blown me away!

So after this history that leads me to specifically what makes this band a favorite of mine? What did I like about Anberlin itself that lead me to do a 360 on what I perceive as bands worthy of checking out? Stay tuned for part 2 dealing with the band itself! :grinthumb
 
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Soot and Stars

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Re: Anberlin (A Band Spawned From The Movement Towards Spiritual Intellect and Artist

Anberlin

anberlin.jpg


Anberlin was a group that caught me with from the start with a fresh mix of 80's new wave influence mixed with youthful modern guitar rock. The vocalist, Stephen Christian has the purist, most crystalline vocal quality I've heard in a rock band and amazingly the band does this without losing a harder edge similar to the band Alexisonfire. The songwriting which I had to delve into to discover it's themes is well written and spiritual in a context that almost anyone can relate to. A number of the songs themselves are universal themes as well as love, betrayal and friendship but they are written from the perspective of a band dedicated to staying true to a core of morals they believe in. Above everything it's the melodies and mix of heavy music with a fun 80s influence that had me taken with Never Take Friendship Personal!

My favorite songs from that album are:

The Feel Good Drag (original)


Never Take Friendship Personal


Paperthin Hymn


It's the follow up album that would really secure my Anberlin obsession though.

Cities
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This album is the best Anberlin c.d. by far! The bands sound gained some darker moodier layers and the songwriting is at it's peak.

Here are my favorites from Cities:

Godspeed


The Unwinding Cable Car


Alexithymia


Dismantle. Repair.


(Fin*)


This is where I'll stop so far! These are by far the best two albums by this band but there are some standout tracks that I've still yet to cover. In fact, Anberlin does some great covers but i'll let this soak in for now! Peace!
 
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Soot and Stars

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Re: Anberlin (A Band Spawned From The Movement Towards Spiritual Intellect and Artist

I personally think they have some of the best covers out there! They all have the bands sound while keeping true to the original!

The Promise (Crash Romeo)


Enjoy The Silence (Depeche Mode)


Love Song (The Cure)


There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (The Smiths)
 

Oblivion

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Re: Anberlin (A Band Spawned From The Movement Towards Spiritual Intellect and Artist

You introduced me to them in a past life. Haven't heard much yet but didn't hear anything bad either so that equals out..
 

Soot and Stars

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Re: Anberlin (A Band Spawned From The Movement Towards Spiritual Intellect and Artist

Since I came into Anberlin in the middle of their career that's been my main focus so far. Their debut

Blueprints For The Black Market
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Had people taking notice well before I finally discovered them. I dare say it's there heaviest overall album. Here are some of the standout tracks:

Readyfuels


Glass To The Arson (studio)


Glass To The Arson (early live)
(vocals are crazy low but the performance shows the energy a band has in it's earliest form)


Autobahn
(very New Wave which Anberlin has been influenced by from the start)


Cadence
 

METALPRIEST

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Re: Anberlin (A Band Spawned From The Movement Towards Spiritual Intellect and Artist

Some really cool stuff! Autobahn is a catchy song! Really like that one! Very radio friendly too!! :cheers:
 

Soot and Stars

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Re: Anberlin (A Band Spawned From The Movement Towards Spiritual Intellect and Artist

Yeah, I like that one! Cities is my favorite c.d. by them. It's their darkest material and they combine a cool collection of different rock sounds. These guys would have done well in the 80's I think! :grinthumb
 

METALPRIEST

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Re: Anberlin (A Band Spawned From The Movement Towards Spiritual Intellect and Artist

Never Take Friendship Personal is another cool one! They're all pretty cool from where I'm sittin'

:cheers:
 

Soot and Stars

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Re: Anberlin (A Band Spawned From The Movement Towards Spiritual Intellect and Artist

More favorite tracks from one of my favorite bands! :grinthumb

A Day Late (off of "Never Take Friendship Personal")


Love Song (off of Blueprints For The Black Market)



Time And Confusion (off of "Never Take Friendship Personal")


Hello Alone (off of "Cities")


A Perfect Tourniquet (B-Side)



Heavier Things (B-Side)

(Like this a lot!)
 

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