Anberlin always opens up their albums with brute force. Their fourth album was no exception. Released in 2009 just after the Bush presidency, Anberlin was always low-key political. I discovered Anberlin while going to Christian school in Western North Carolina. Growing up as a Seventh-day Adventist, I felt an extra urge to be branded as an Evangelical. Peer pressure's funny, isn't it. Anberlin was always a step ahead of the Evangelical movement, though. They were an early adopter of the saying "not a Christian band" but a "band with Christians in it." And Christian radio seemed to love it. Stephen also talked about how he didn't believe the Genesis Creation account, and he also spoke out against the Bush administration and the Iraq war. Fast-forward to 2008. I'm in my first year of Seventh-day Adventist college. I preordered this album from the band's merch table at Cornerstone. John McCain was running for president against Barak Obama. There was a conflict in the atmosphere--embrace hope and change while letting values slide or hold fast to the traditions and biblical values. This was the conflict I felt in every single class and with every single interaction. My Seventh-day Adventist college was way more diverse than my homogenous upbringing. Even in this microcosm in Eastern Tennessee, the world picked up more and more nuisance. And of course I was being challenged by the music of Anberlin and Switchfoot and started to listen to more and more secular music like Death Cab For Cutie and Franz Ferdinand. And yet, there was a nagging voice in the back of my head saying that I had to read the Bible in a certain way otherwise it was wrong. I'll leave the story there.
MUSICAL NOTES: This is an excellent album opener. We first hear crunchy guitars. Drums are added on the third bar and then a second guitar and the bass bring the intro to a climax and then adds the vocals. It's one of my go to protest songs whenever I'm angry about something personal or political. I wonder if Anberlin was vocal about the Christian acceptance for the Bush administration, what would they be saying now if they hadn't gone on hiatus in 2014.
WHY I CHOSE THIS SONG: Today Anberlin performed New Surrender for the first time in a livestream. The album received mixed reviews and not exactly loved by the band. Though disjointed, this album is still one of the albums that defined my life. I say that Cities is the finest album the band has ever made, and how can a band follow up their magnum opus? They must do something different. Cities was an album of darkness and gloom with a little hope to shine through. New Surrender was an album of embracing hope with a little bit of darkness keep us fighting for a better future. "The Resistance" reminds me that although America has chosen hope, there are still cages to unlock. There's still darkness to fight. Let's form the resistance.
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