I consider Anberlin and Underoath to be "sister bands" of a sort and I was so sad when they both went on hiatus. I remember thinking "I'll be so happy if they both eventually reunite and play shows". Then we got that and I was ecstatic to finally see UO live and to see Anberlin again. Then I remember thinking, "well, now that they are reunited, I really hope we get new tunes from both of these bands". And that happened and I was so stoked. Now we're at this weird point where UO has somewhat plateaued (thought Voyeurist was great, POTATO was OK), and now Anberlin is in this weird step-dad phase. And to look back and see how much I yearned for both of these bands to the point of going to every show in or around my city, buying all their music, to now just being so "meh". It's a wild roller coaster of care level.
I'd add Copeland to that list also. But instead of tarnishing their legacy they executed things so well and added to it. They put out new music and you could argue that Ixora is their best album. They re-recorded songs for Revolving Doors which sound amazing but by no means take away from the originals. They threaded the needle so well between legacy band and releasing new music.
even Blushing felt like a bit of a departure from their expected sound, but turned into one of their best records too (and my personal favorite of theirs). the band knows how to appeals to longtime fans while also trying something fresh. weird AI drama aside with Aaron, their reunion serves as a great example of how to come back stronger.
preview on Apple Music sounds really bad, but i also noticed they're self-releasing this in partnership with Many Hats Distribution. wonder if they've left Equal Vision/were dropped/their contract ended
Can't wait to see this music video of Matty slightly bobbing up and down while rubbing his hand/fist together.
I am pretty sure Equal Vision was the reason they decided to re-record NTFP. I remember seeing Deon say they were gonna give it away to the fans, but the label liked it and wanted to give it a proper release. Which i understand why EV would want that, they did a massive 20 year tour with a different singer. Despite that I am really scratching my head at re-recording Readyfuels. I actually liked the 3 songs they did with Matty and I figured they would do more new music and then play the "hits" live.
It’s so funny to look at the general discourse about this band on chorus/reddit/etc compared with their Instagram comments. They are so clearly deleting anything remotely negative, and the positive comments are so over the top.
I actually had the same impression. I want them to stop this but this was easily the most tolerable of the re-recordings for that reason.
I read one on Facebook that was essentially like "this is the kind of positivity and light we need during these dark times. Keep doing what you're doing Anberlin." Tried to go back and find it but looked like they nerfed a ton of comments, even the positive ones.
I’d like to fully submit myself as a poser lmaooo. I did not know this was an old song re-recorded. My jumping on point was Vital. It makes sense to me they’d be squeezing every ounce out of this time. I think I saw somewhere this last tour was the most profitable in years. I dont hate any of the original songs they’ve done with Matty and I agree the mix sounds better on this one. Still interested to hear a full release with him and fully expect Stephen to return to thunderous applause in the next 2-3 years.