Driven Far Off

The latest on the indie, alternative, and rock music scene including news, music, contest, interviews, and more. Best described as your favorite place to find new bands.

  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Videos
  • Articles
  • About
  • Contact

Anberlin Album Website

February 22, 2007 By Bryce Jacobson Leave a Comment

AnberlinCities.com is now live. Head there and enter your City Pass that you received with your album.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Anberlin

Anberlin Video Update, New Website

February 20, 2007 By Bryce Jacobson Leave a Comment

In honor of Anberlin‘s new album, you can check out a video update from the band below as well as head to their new album inspired website.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Anberlin, Tooth And Nail

Nate Leaves Anberlin

February 19, 2007 By Bryce Jacobson Leave a Comment

On the day before their new album release, Anberlin guitarist Nate Strayer will be moving on and focusing on his other musical interests. The band is stoked for him and wish him the best. Stepping into the second guitar position for the band is longtime good friend, Christian (from Acceptance).

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Acceptance, Anberlin

SmartPunk Adds More Bands To Warped Tour Stage

February 19, 2007 By Bryce Jacobson Leave a Comment

Anberlin, Alesana, and BlessTheFall have been added to the Smartpunk.com stage at this years Warped Tour.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: alesana, Anberlin, BlessTheFall

Albums In Stores Tomorrow

February 19, 2007 By Bryce Jacobson 4 Comments

Anberlin – Cities
Classic Case – Losing At Life
Asteria – Slip Into Something More Comfortable
Reel Big Fish/Zolof The Rock And Roll Destroyer – Duet All Night Long
The Ataris – Welcome The Night
Comeback Kid – Broadcasting
Smoke Or Fire – This Sinking Ship
Lovehatehero – White Lies
Big D And The Kids Table/Brain Failure – Beijing To Boston
Cool Hand Luke – Balancing Act
Explosions In The Sky – All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
Good Clean Fun – Today The Scene Tomorrow The World
Minus The Bear – Interpretaciones Del Oso

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Anberlin, Asteria, Big-D-And-The-Kids-Table, Classic-Case, Comeback Kid, Cool-Hand-Luke, Explosions-In-The-Sky, Good-Clean-Fun, Lovehatehero, Minus-The-Bear, Reel-Big-Fish, Smoke-or-Fire, The-Ataris, Zolof-the-Rock-And-Roll-Destroyer

Anberlin – Cities

February 18, 2007 By Julie 8 Comments

anberlin_cities

Artist:Anberlin
Album: Cities
Label: Tooth & Nail Records
Purchase: Smartpunk
Release Date: February 20, 2007

Overall: 8.5
Music: 8.0
Lyrics: 9.5
Production: 9.5

Before I sat down to write this review I replayed Cities over and over under the delusion that if I listened to it enough times maybe I could shake the feeling that I was being cheated. The moment Cities dropped into my mailbox I could feel the excitement coming off me in waves. I was thrilled merely ogling it in its hot plastic casing, yet as soon as I set my ears on Cities I felt like I wanted nothing to do with it.

Now let’s get a few facts straight. Anberlin are one of my favorite bands in the world and I was all over Never Take Friendship Personal like fashion on Rodeo Drive, but someplace between Cites and NTFP, Anberlin went too ‘Pop and Technicolor’ for my tastes. That said Cities is not a bad album by a long shot. However, it stops way short on being one of my favorites. Where Never Take Friendship Personal came across as a poetic take on aggression, Cities confuses me with its continuous tightwalk between unnecessarily artificial and heartbreakingly honest.

With its snarling technical guitars and call and answer style vocals, ‘Godspeed’ reminds me most of Anberlin’s NTFP days. ‘Adelaide,’ meanwhile, could be the next radio/TRL hit waiting to happen. ‘Dismantle. Repair’ is another one of my favorites, painting a vivid story through its lyrical vignettes and harmonic guitar chords. And arguably closer ‘*fin’ does something magically with its chamber choral vocals acting like an invocation of child angels. However, that is where the buck ends as ‘A Whisper & A Clamor,’ while boasting a powerful message, starts lacking a particular energy and ends with even less gas. Acoustic ballad ‘The Unwinding Cable Car’ is a lyrical gem and vocal pleasantry, but quickly degrades into something musically repetitive and lackluster. And forgive me if this offends anyone, but the synth elements of ‘There Is No Mathematics To Love And Loss’ and ‘Reclusion’ are actually slightly irritating to me. Overall, a solid portion of this album struck me as boring and I felt much more compelled to skip tracks here than I ever did during NTFP.

While some would argue this album tests far more musical boundaries than anything Anberlin have offered in the past, I feel as though the band took the concept of unfetteredness too liberally. Older is not synonymous with better, and in some cases going from a state of good to amazing means getting worse first. Like my dad likes to say when he fixes things, “Julie, it’s going to get worse before it gets better.” And for me that’s totally fine. Just because people want Cities to be a step up from NTFP, it doesn’t mean it is. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think Anberlin are a better band now than they were 2 years ago. Christian’s voice is more dynamic than ever, Youngâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s drumming has improved ten-fold, and Aaron Sprinkle has once again proven why he’s one of the best producers in the scene. In spite of this, something about Cities seems distractingly hit and miss and highly inconsistent.

To make a specific point of this, let me reference Thrice’s 2006 concept album Vheissu. The Artist and the Ambulance found Thrice at the pinnacle of their fanbase and acclaim, yet Vheissu came out of nowhere with it’s unusual un-Thrice sound and left fans feeling more than a little unsatisfied. While the band was as musically apt as ever, Vheissu was not their best album to date. With Thrice’s new 4 element concept album in the works, I’d like to think they have taken the criticism of Vheissu and applied it their new approach, but only time will tell. Likewise, I hope Anberlin will come to realize the missteps taken on Cities and use that to justify creating an album that shine, uplifts, and enthralls from start to finish.

Want the sentence version of this review? Pick up Cities for an above-average tromp through the lyrical stanza’s of Stephan Christian and musical refrains of Joseph Milligan. But if you want substance, staying power, AND sing-along quality go pick up or rediscover 2005’s Never Take Friendship Personal.

Track Listing:
1. (Debut)
2. Godspeed
3. Adelaide
4. A Whisper And A Clamor
5. The Unwinding Cable Car
6. There Is No Mathematics To Love And Loss
7. Hello Alone
8. Alexithymia
9. Reclusion
10. Inevitable
11. Dismantle. Repair.
12. (*Fin)

Standout Tracks:
Godspeed, Adelaide, (*Fin), Dismantle. Repair

Filed Under: Album, Reviews Tagged With: Anberlin, Tooth And Nail

Staff Recommendations February 18th 2007

February 18, 2007 By Jamie Pham Leave a Comment

Jamie Pham: Anberlin, The Malheruex, and Peachcake.

Bryce Jacobson: Be sure to check out the new Anberlin album. Also check out Asteria, who’s new album is out this Tuesday as well.

Valida Prentice: Hey guys, all I have for you this week is a sweet music video: â┚¬Ã…”A Tried and Tested Methodâ┚¬? – The Longcut.

Filed Under: News, Recommendations Tagged With: Anberlin, Asteria, Peachcake, the-malheruex

Free Anberlin Show

February 18, 2007 By Jamie Pham Leave a Comment

Anberlin and Bayside will be playing a free MySpace Secret Show Tuesday, February 20th at The Social in Orlando, FL. This show is free and entrance to the show will be granted on a first come, first served basis, so make sure you get to the venue early! Doors open at 6 PM.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Anberlin, Bayside

Stream Anberlin’s New Album Cities

February 16, 2007 By Bryce Jacobson Leave a Comment

Anberlin‘s new album, Cities, is available for streaming on their MySpace page.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Anberlin, Tooth And Nail

Anberlin Video Update

February 15, 2007 By Bryce Jacobson Leave a Comment

Check out a video update from Anberlin below.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Anberlin, Tooth And Nail

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • Next Page »

Recent Posts

Motion City Soundtrack To Release Video Documentary

Secrets Stream “Maybe Next May” Video

Emery to Launch Crowdfunding Campaign for New Album

I Am The Avalanche Stream New Album “Wolverines”

The Weeks @ The Ryman Auditorium

Copyright © 2025, Driven Far Off. All Rights Reserved.