This ^ This is kinda sullying their legacy in the pantheon of bands I grew up listening to... makes me sad
I know the point is that you want Stephen instead of Matty, but bands coming back to and repurposing old ideas is a pretty common practice.
Honestly that totally supports what I said earlier. The band isn't even writing new songs, they're just letting Marty record vocals over old demos and releasing them as "new" singles. I try not to let what a band is currently doing ruin their legacy, especially when it isn't an egregious crime or something, but it is SO HARD to not listen to the old stuff and not at least be a little annoyed about what is currently happening.
that wasn't the point as much as it was that i just really don't want them to tread the same ground as their first three albums. i love those albums (as do a ton of their fans), but i gravitate heavily towards their post-New Surrender material, and even if Stephen sang on this (which i would prefer to Matty), i'd much rather have a song that built on the musical ideas they explored with Silverline and Convinced. i think given Matty's more limited vocal and songwriting abilities (in addition to his love for those older albums), recording songs rooted in that early sound feels like something that's much safer than experimenting with new sounds.
Song is fine. Still don't like how digitized (?) Matty sounds at times, the vocal production and all... don't know how to explain. Chorus doesn't sound far off from what I imagine Stephen would come up with melody wise. I assume the latter would add some high C notes that Matty isn't reaching here.
I don’t hate it. It’s too bad Stephen didn’t have one more release in him before the shift happened. Those eps were pretty incredible as post reunion releases. IMO it’s cool scene bands are having arcs like giant major label bands where they have the hits everyone grew up on, they venture out into different places, and then eventually come back around. Thinking of blink i’m sure Stephen will come back and everyone will lose it. As a meandering season for the band this song is very catchy and doesn’t sound like anberlin meets MMF if a cheesy way. Definitely has that cowrite middle of the line pop feel, but it’s catchy.
Just listened to "High Stakes" and it's not bad, I kind of enjoy it on its own, but it does sound like a watered down version of Anberlin.
I can't reconcile these lyrics and this being an Anberlin song haha E: Instrumentally tight though, not shocked it's an old demo
he has a bunch of side instagram accounts and one of them is him chronicling his meat smoking journey. it’s called meaty mullins. if we can collectively agree to call him meaty that would bring me great joy.
The song is....fine. The instrumental portion of it is good. I dont think he has a bad voice, but I hate the vocal production. The lyrics seem cheesy to me.
Yeah, this just seems like Matty trying and failing to emulate Stephen and the song does suffer for it. I could see how Stephen's vocals could elevate the song, and it might even be better if Matty just did his own thing.