Anberlin - New Surrender
I’ll be honest — I don’t know how to start this review, and that happens from time to time, usually because I don’t know the right angle to take on an album or I don’t know how to lead into the album I want to talk about. I don’t have to review everything I listen to, but I made a rule that I was going to only talk about something if I had something to say about it, at least more than whether or not it’s good, bad, or just okay. There are those albums I want to talk about, but I don’t have much to say, although they’re still good albums. That’s how I feel about the album in question today, because I really like it, but there isn’t much I have to say about it. I’ve got some thoughts on the band overall, though, and that’s what we’ll do today. The band in question is Anberlin, and I wanted to talk about their fourth album, 2008’s New Surrender, because that’s the one that I picked up. I picked it up for a couple of reasons — the album came out when I was just getting into music and I remember seeing ads for it, but it also features a re-recorded version of “Feel Good Drag,” which was featured on 2005’s Never Take Friendship Personal.
They did that to try to both get fans interested in the new album, as they’ll recognize that it’s an old song and advocate for radio stations to play it, and the band really liked that song, so they wanted more people to hear it. It worked, because this is their most popular album, and that’s their most popular song. I remember hearing this album about a decade ago, but I don’t necessarily remember it that well. Because I’ve been going back to some 00s alternative, metalcore, and neon pop-punk, so Anberlin would be a great fit for that. I’ve been playing this album for the last week, give or take, and it’s a solid little alt-rock album. As I’ve been writing this, I can see why I didn’t really know how to start this review, because I really don’t have a lot to say about this album. Not that it’s a bad album, but it’s a rather straightforward alternative album with some solid hooks, vocals, and lyrics. The biggest selling point of this album is vocalist Stephen Christian; he’s one of the best vocalists of the scene, and on songs like “Feel Good Drag,” “Blame Me! Blame Me,” “Younglife,” and “Haight St,” he sounds amazing.
His lyrics are pretty good, too, but I’ll admit that this album has its peaks and valleys. This is one of those albums that has its highlights but there are also songs that don’t really do anything for me. Nothing here is bad, but the album has songs that I care more about than others. The album blends together a bit, and at 45 minutes, it’s a bit of a lengthy album. That’s not too long, but in terms of alternative, pop-punk, and genres like that, it’s a bit long. I wish it was a bit shorter, but it’s not bad at all. Christian is a great enough vocalist to make it work, but some songs just don’t stick out. The ones that do, though, are truly something special, but I wish the album was a bit shorter, because I’m looking at my watch for a few songs until the next ones I like show up. It’s not bad, and I don’t mind listening to those songs, but not every track is super memorable. Hell, I do think the new version of “Feel Good Drag” is worth the price of admission alone, but if there’s one reason to hear this album, it’s for that song alone. The rest of the album is good, but it has its highs and somewhat lows. Christian’s vocals are the main draw here, too, and he’s such a great vocalist.
