“Lacerate” by Anberlin, Monday, April 22, 2024

Anberlin has been accused of being a band that listeners can identify by every song. I never thought that this criticism was fair because the band has a range of songs of different tempos and tones.  The band did, however, seem to follow an album formula, particularly in their earlier work. But in  2022, the band decided to release an EP rather than a full album. The five songs on Silverline were a little more experimental for the band than their previous work. The electronic and post-hardcore elements the band developed after their breakup were best exemplified in the singles “Two Graves” and “Circles.” Even with the shock of the new Anberlin sound, I was confused when I heard the lead single from Convinced, the 2023 follow-up to Silverline. Rather than a zippy guitar riff from Joseph Milligan and Stephen Christian’s clear vocals, “Lacerate” starts a little slower than many Anberlin album openers with an ambient synth.

SLOW FADE, SLOW FEIGN. The first voice we hear on Convinced is not Stephen Christian’s but rather guitarist Christian McAlhaney’s. The song doesn’t sound like Anberlin until Stephen Christian takes the chorus, but even then Stephen feels more like a featured artist on the song rather than Anberlin’s frontman. Adding to the chaos of the song is producer and collaborator Chad Carouthers, contributing a death-metal scream to the chorus and the song’s breakdown. While Anberlin is no stranger to heavy music, “Lacerate” feels like new territory for the band. It feels angrier than the band’s darker songs like “Never Take Friendship Personal.” Ryan Clark’s scream on the band’s opening track from their sophomore album sounded like teen-angst. Carouthers’ scream coupled with the darker highly-produced sound of “Lacerate” feels like a frustration that has festered for a long time only to be let out in abysmal desperation. 

THE CADAVER OF TRUTH. I’m not sure how “Lacerate” fits into the timeline of Stephen Christian’s decision to take an indefinite hiatus from touring with Anberlin. The opening track to Convinced does feel like a way to phase out the band’s charismatic lead singer. Transitioning into heavier music and introducing Matty Mullins of the metalcore band Memphis May Fire as the band’s touring lead vocalist makes sense with a single like “Lacerate.” Anberlin fans seem divided on the Matty Mullins phase of the band. Mullins has an incredible range that can handle the new heavy direction of Anberlin. Still, Stephen Christian has been the voice of Anberlin for over twenty years. We don’t know the closed-door conversations as the band got back together, starting in late 2018. It seemed to be a reunion out of a new convenience of the music industry--not having to be ever-present and allowing social media to handle some of the more time-consuming factors in touring and promotion as well as tapping into a millennial listenership with money to spend on nostalgia. But in the “reconciliation” between the lead singer and the band, a fundamental difference seemed to remain: Stephen Christian viewed the band as a part-time gig to his pastorship and fatherhood, and the band seemed to view Anberlin as the main gig. Artistically, I think that Anberlin ending and becoming a supergroup fronted by Matty Mullins would be the best choice. But I think keeping Anberlin and playing the old songs may be a more financially beneficial choice. 

Read “Lacerate” by Anberlin on Genius