Anberlin - Vital (ALBUM REVIEW)
Review By: Jacob Barnes (Twitter)
This year marks the tenth anniversary of Anberlin being a band and they are marking the occasion with their sixth album Vital. This album is easily the best album they have written since Cities back in 2007. The two albums that followed Cities left fans yearning for something more. New Surrender came out a little too poppy and Dark Is The Way, Light Is The Place while a moodier album didn't quite reach the same intensity Anberlin had in their first three albums. Vital shows the band reaching back to their roots and using their musical maturity to create an album that will appease long time fans and bring in new listeners.
The opening tracks “Self Starter and “Little Tyrants” as well as other tracks like “Desires” and “Modern Age” are fun heavy songs. With big guitar sounds and plenty of synthesizer work these are songs that would definitely be fun live and appeal to many fans new and old. Stephen Christian is one of those singer/songwriters that works seamlessly between these heavier songs and the more ballad style tracks. He brings in an aggression to his voice while still singing while other singers might go for a more screaming/yelling voice. While there is definitely room for screaming in the genre it usually comes across as more of an effect in the song so it's always nice to find real vocal talent.
Vitals more poppy songs and ballads are true to form for Anberlin. These songs also feature a return of great synthesizer/programming work. The songs “Innocent”, “Type Three” and “Orpheum” are the finest examples of that. Ending the album is the vocally driven “God, Drugs & Sex” that features a female guest singer and Stephen Christian's best vocal work. The song ends with a group sing-a-long and serves as a good end the the album.
One thing that may have led to this album being as good as it is is the return of producer Aaron Sprinkle. Behind any great band is a great producer and obviously his experience with Anberlin has paid off. It leaves you wondering what he could have pulled out of the band on the last two albums. Hopefully when it comes time to record the next album he's the first guy they call. Vital is definitely worth checking out and has songs that can appeal to almost everyone. It's definitely an album that is a good jumping on point for new fans to discover and old fans to appreciate.
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