“Walk Alone” Anberlin ft. Matty Mullins, Sunday, July 7, 2024


In August, Anberlin will release their eighth studio album, Vega. This is probably the least I’ve been excited about an Anberlin release, mainly because most fans have heard most of it already. Vega is a compilation album of the band’s last two years work, the two EPs Silverline and Convinced plus two additional songs, the first of which, “Walk Alone,” was released as a single last month. This leaves just one more song, “Seven,” for fans to yet to hear, but this is only partially true because the band has played the show at their “Farewell to lead singer Stephen Christian” show last year, and fans can easily find the live version on YouTube. 


IF YOU EVER FEEL YOU’VE GONE TOO FAR. Two years ago, Stephen Christian talked with Shane Told on the Lead Singer Syndrome Podcast that he felt unsure about the current music industry, so the band decided to release their album in two parts. He expressed how he felt that he felt that music listeners wanted singles and shorter forms of media. Prior to their hiatus, Anberlin had been an album band, with every single the band released being part of a cohesive album. It turns out that Silverline and Convinced would be part of an album, but I’m still concerned about the project’s cohesion. Furthermore, I felt what Stephen said on the podcast was more true of the 2010s than this decade in which the biggest pop stars make albums, sometimes long albums. The re-formed Anberlin was ready to take risks from the format that they released music to the change in their sound—harder, more electronic and technology-based, now blending more voices with Stephen Christian’s to create a sometimes eerie sound.


CRY WITH YOU, HURT WITH YOU, BLEED WITH YOU. The most polarizing decision Anberlin has made with their latest era is Stephen Christians’ indefinite hiatus from live shows. Rather than breaking up the band, Stephen asked Matty Mullins, lead singer of metal-core band Memphis May Fire, to take over lead vocalist duties while the band toured in 2024. Mullins listened to Anberlin in high school and had taken some of Anberlin’s influence into his own band. Currently, Anberlin is on tour with Hawthorne Heights and playing the summer festival circuits. Their touring schedule is similar to their peak in 2014’s farewell tour. The hope I had was that Mullins could help Anberlin perform the heavier songs in the band’s catalog, particularly their new songs and maybe even “Dissenter,” but it seems that the band is playing a shortened “Eras Tour” of legacy hits for their set lists. As for the band’s latest single, “Walk Alone,” the song improves with listening to it, but it doesn’t sound like Anberlin. It sounds like so many Punk Goes… bands on Rise Records that have no distinguishing songs. The music video is pretty funny though. Stephen Christian said that he will continue to record with the band, but somehow it feels like the beginning of an unhealthy break up. Stephen is telling the fans, “I’ll see you around” but he never calls and doesn’t respond to messages. I hope that I’m wrong. 


Read the lyrics on Genius.






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