This sounds pretty good so far. The sound reminds me more of The Gospel Youth than Anberlin, but that's not a bad thing!
I saw a video of Stephen talking about how the reason he quit the band again was to spend time with his family, etc. And it was such a perfectly valid reason to make his decision to leave. Something that gets lost in the discourse around this band since Matty joined is that they presented it by literally telling us Stephen was still in the band, Matty was just the touring singer, etc etc. Since then, it is extremely apparent that Matty has completely replaced Stephen in every capacity, with Stephen popping in to do show or guest vocal here and there. But because of the way they presented this (and still are), there is so much less clarity and more animosity with the fans. There was a way to do this that honored their legacy and time with Stephen and their decision to move forward without him. I would have never liked this Matty stuff, but I’d certainly have a lot more respect for them if they had just owned what they were doing from the start. Especially considering the way they interact with fans about it. It’s just a shame and example of why transparency is always better in the long run.
Correct, if they hadn't lied to their fans (and then doubled down on insulting the fans who called them out for lying), this could have been a very clean transition. Instead they decided to do it in the worst possible way.
If this had just been clean break I would've still held the band in high regard and just moved on - the reasoning is perfectly sound for why the change was made. But all of this deception and animosity has kinda soured me on the band entirely; I still love the old music but my perception of their legacy has absolutely been affected.
or Stephen could have changed his mind and decided to walk away fully. I think his original intent was to still have some sort of involvement, but as time went on he became less and less interested with anberlin and more being present for his family and his job. I dont think the band had any ill will behind it. The conversation and the commitment just changed over time.
I think that the band has/had some misplaced frustration with Stephen that resulted in the snarky comments to fans, their general attitude etc. As much as they played it off like all is well and it was a mutual decision, I'm sure it was somewhat frustrating to mount this big comeback, put out two records, and then be right back to square one. Even if Stephen's reasoning was sound, that had to be tough to swallow.
I was ready to give them all kinds of grace when this was first announced, but that is big time over. It would help (my) sentiment a whole lot if they weren't re-recording classic albums/songs with the new guy. If they wanna still be Anberlin without Stephen, then they should step up and write some new music and prove that they can be. I already never plan to see them with this lineup, but retracking Cities with Moldy on vocals would be a damn criminal offense.
It's their music. They can do whatever they want with it. I don't think Matty would just go and call the shots after being asked to join. Matty has said in a couple interviews that he has always been a fan of the band and of that record. I think the other guys just wanted to do it for him. I do agree with the fact that they shouldn't rerecord Cities. The previous rerecord didn't create positive buzz like they thought it would. They are working on a new record right now.
The idea of then re-recording Cities with Matty is truly awful. But I've also been able to ignore the re-record of NTFP well enough, so I don't expect anything different in that case. I'm sort of over it at this point. The whole thing has been exhausting. The communication has been bad bad. But it hasn't stopped me from loving the band's music as a whole. And the Vega songs (minus Walk Alone) are all aging super well together as I get distance from the weird release.
I can't believe they put the re-record on vinyl. Hard to see a label being like "yes, this is a good investment".
I do think they were sort of in an un-winnable position, because it seems like Stephen's whole deal has totally changed after they announced their original plan. This is the second time he's basically forced a big decision in the band, and this time they just found a way to kept going instead of breaking up. BUT they could head a lot of the animosity between them and the fans – and the incessant questions of who will be singing for what tour – if they just said this is the band now and the plan changed.
I unfollowed them a long time ago on socials. I wasn’t trying to make a statement or anything I just couldn’t take it anymore lol