NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

In another life, we would have a light, optimistic Anberlin . This version of the band would have followed up their bright-eyed debut Blueprints for the Black Market with an upbeat pop-rock album about the gender divide, high school crushes, and traveling the world. But the band chose to go in a hard rock sound for their sophomore album, Never Take Friendship Personal , in part because of some of the conflicts the band had with guitarist Joey Bruce , whom they kicked out before the record. The hard rock album with grittier lyrics didn’t completely kill Anberlin’s pop-punk sentiments with songs like “ A Lay Late ” and “ Time and Confusion ” becoming fan favorites.   OH, THEY LOVE THESE AMERICAN BOYS. Anberlin’s third album, Cities , took an even darker tone than their sophomore record. The intense album had the pop-rock moments of “ Adelaide ” and “ Dismantle.Repair. ” But the serious tone of the album as a whole left no room for the carefree moments on the previous albums. Lead singer

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 Conv

It was Superbowl Sunday of 2005 when I bought Anberlin ’s Never Take Friendship Personal .  It was the perfect album for high school. The band’s style took a turn on their sophomore album from a classic or '90s rock sound to a more emotional, mid-2000s sound. The band would redefine themselves with this album, becoming a lesser-known emo staple. Stephen Christian ’s vocals meeting Joseph Milligan ’s riffs, Deon Rexroat ’s heavy bass, and Nathan Young ’s reliance on the cymbals make this one of the band’s heaviest records. The band released two recordings of this song on two different albums and many fans debate which one is better. THIS WAS OVER BEFORE IT EVER BEGAN.   The original version of "The Feel Good Drag" feels grungier and Stephen’s scream on the bridge was perfectly aligned with the musical trends of the day. The New Surrender version , renamed "Feel Good Drag," beefs up t he guitar intro, and the solo has a quite satisfying bend.   However, having

Last summer, Anberlin released their hiatus-breaking EP, Silverline . The five-song EP was written during the band's time off due to the pandemic when they had planned to return to touring. But like many touring bands out of work, Anberlin decided to take to the Internet and started a livestream session, eventually deciding to perform every one of their albums live. With all the nostalgia of revisiting the classic seven albums, many listeners thought that their first release back would be influenced by their older work; perhaps an album track that the band never performed much. I'LL STILL LOVE YOU TILL MY VERY COFFIN DROPS. Last month , I made a case that Silverline was the least Anberlin-sounding spot in the band's discography, but I would like to counter that argument today by looking at the latter-part of the band's career that makes Silverline make sense. Because if we don't do that, the band's most recent release, last Friday's EP Convinced , of which

On February 1, 2005, Anberlin released their sophomore record, Never Take Friendship Personal . I started listening to Anberlin   since  Blueprints for the Black Market, which had been one of my favorite records when it was released. I bought the record on February 6th, Super Bowl Sunday. My sister and I stopped by the Family Christian bookstore on a shopping trip before watching the game with our youth group. I listened to the album before buying it, noticing how much more aggressive NTFP was compared to its predecessor, almost as if the band that had created BFTBM had disappeared. It was an emo record and I was junior in high school, driving my first car. It's not a classic for everyone, but it was the right record for that time, and when I listen to it, I'm transformed back to 2005. 1. " Never Take Friendship Personal ." This is the only occasion that Anberlin has named a record after a song. The song begins with aggressive guitars before launching into a classic

  When recording their debut record Blueprints for the Black Market , Anberlin spent time in Seattle writing the lyrics for the album. During their 2020 livestream We Are the Lost Ones , between songs and banter, the band told stories about where they drew inspiration for some of the most beloved tracks on the record. Viewers heard stories about using rhymezone.com to complete “ Cold War Transmissions ,” seeing their producer Aaron Sprinkle play a cover of The Cure ’s “ Lovesong ” at a karaoke night— his arrangement would end up on Blueprints, and a story about an arsonist devastating Seattle at the time of the recording. INNOCENCE DERAILED.  " Glass to the Arson ” is the fifth track on Blueprints for the Black Market. It's certainly not one of Anberlin's most poignant lyrics: it's not a storytelling song and the lyrics never made a deeper connection with me like later Anberlin songs; it's the passion in Stephen Christian 's voice along with the Joseph Mill

Anberlin 's Blueprints for the Black Market was a strong debut for the band. The circumstances, the tours and the connections from those tours, though transcended the first record's success. First Anberlin headlined the Tooth & Nail Tour when Further Seems Forever  dropped off due to lead singer Jason Gleason leaving the band; this was Anberlin’s first major tour and they were upgraded to headliner. The band toured a lot on their first record and gained a considerable fan base. But touring came with the price of not being there for the band’s families. Touring paid off,  despite the hiccup of one band member getting too involved with the drugs and partying to fulfill his duties in the band.  WHEN YOUR ONLY FRIENDS ARE HOTEL ROOMS.  Never Take Friendship Personal turned Anberlin from a ‘90s-rock leaning band to an Emo band. The title of the opening track and the record come from the band’s decision to kick out guitarist Joey Bruce . Besides the opening track, all the ly

The fourth track on Blueprints for the Black Market , " Cold War Transmissions ,"  Anberlin   starts to establish themselves as a potentially heavy band. The production on the track sounds reminiscent of the early-'00 sounds of Trapt or Trust Company , when having a hard rock song was the key to Alternative Rock success. Until Cities , Anberlin was on the path to becoming a harder and hard rock band, but with New Surrender and Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place   started to embrace a more ambient sound, with some notable exceptions. However, with the band's planned final album Lowborn and on their upcoming release Silverline on July 29th, Anberlin is back and heavier than ever! SIDE BY SIDE WE FACE EACH OTHER. Stephen Christian has talked about how feedback from Anberlin's fans helped him to become a better lyricist. There is a significant improvement on the band's next record, Never Take Friendship Personal as some of the lyrics on Blueprints for the Bla