Did I read somewhere that it's alternate artwork? If that's the case I'd love to see what they decided on!
@Barcara Here's some pictures. The back of all of the albums look the same, just text saying the name of the album. So I only put a photo of Blueprints as an example.
Dark is the Way, Light is a Place has some great songs on it, I still listen to Art of War, Pray Tell and Take Me As You Found Me on the reg. That album has my least favorite opener of theirs though.
I've been telling myself I would get this for year but never have. I'm kinda glad I didn't know. But I still think this looks really good.
I agree. Overall it's a strong album, but I felt the faster, more aggressive songs on it ("We Owe This To Ourselves" and "To The Wolves" in particular) were definitely the weakest. Vital and Lowborn are my favorite era of Anberlin. The sound and progression that they had at the end lined up exactly with what I wanted to hear from them.
DITW suffered from choruses that were too repetitive (for the most part). There were definitely still some bangers, but a step back in the right direction from New Surrender, and with better songwriting, it was easily surpassed with Vital. if Anberlin's discog only included NTFP, Cities, Vital, and Lowborn, i would be okay.
NS was definitely my least favorite too but still had some good songs ("Feel Good Drag", "Disappear", "Haight Street", and "Miserable Visu"). If the rest of the album was as consistent as those songs it Would probably be right up there with Vital, Lowborn, and Cities for me.
definitely agreed. the band talks about how odd that album was, with it being their first major label album, push for a single, rerecording feel good drag, etc. there is some great stuff on there, but too many duds to really put it up against their other stuff.
I remember an early interview with the band saying NS was going to be more upbeat with songs like Paperthin, which had me all excited. Disappear was the first track they previewed and it had me pumped....but that, Feel Good Drag and Resistance were the only songs like that on the album. I felt betrayed lol
In regards to NS, I remember only listening to Cities when it came out and it felt more polished but I don't think I knew they were on a major label. In retrospect now, the album feels somewhat jarring when I line up their whole catalogue. By itself though, I can listen to it front to back...reminds me of being 17
I think I just pretended New Surrender didn't exist when it came out, but in hindsight, it's pretty good. I think it holds up better than at least a couple of their other albums.
I love seeing Lowborn lumped in with Cities and Vital. I wondered if my love for that album would lessen once the "last album by my favorite band" high wore off but it only gets better. I can see why people wouldn't dig it, but it's still second to Cities for me. I'm so happy it exists.
Ha, those are the 3 I skip I was shocked people didn't love lowborn when it came out. Anberlin finally gave us a scream song and people found ways to be upset about it. I remember being pissed it didn't crack he site's EOTY list haha
Oh no! Dissenter? I mean, I like it for what it is but it's a lazy/joke kinda track. They aren't a band who does screaming, the production sounds terrible and Stephan said that he just read lyrics from a book because he didn't have lyrics ready, he didn't think the song would even make the cut.
I remember reading that too, still love it haha. I just loved that the album had such a dark and brooding feel to it and that song sounded like it all boiling over.
I don't know why I love "Dissenter" so much. It doesn't sound all that great, but it also sounds awesome. It pumps me up like nothing else.