“Dead American” by Anberlin, Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Some listeners have criticized Anberlin albums for sounding the same. Many of the band’s albums, especially earlier releases, follow a formula. This formula is usually a hard rock opener, a radio-friendly chorus-driven song, back to hard rock, a mellow middle album, some rockers in the center, and a lengthy closing track. While the vestiges of the formula remain throughout their discography, they began to experiment more in their later career. Anberlin's 2012 record Vital was an update on the band’s mostly guitar-based sound as many of the songs were synth-driven. The band experimented more with Vital’ s repacked album, Devotion , delving deeper into hard rock and electronic pop. HIDE THE DEMONS THERE UNDER YOUR DRESS. Stephen Christian said on the Your Favorite Band Podcast that Anberlin repackaged Vital as Devotion, taking the commercial failure from Universal Republic Records to Big3 Records , hoping to push the opening track, “ Self-Starter ” to the radio. Devotion, unlik