Review Summary: Anberlin mixes the sounds of their first three albums with a few new twists to create the perfect score to an '80s sci-fi action drama...
For fans of the "old" Anberlin, that is people who like the
Blueprints for the Black Market,
Never Take Friendship Personal and
Cities Anberlin (and pretend that
New Surrender doesn't exist, such as myself), you will be pleasantly pleased because the Anberlin we know and love is back. They're even hinting it to us by including the words "love song" and "arson" in the lyrics to "Art of War."
The album kicks off, literally, with "We Owe This to Ourselves." Stephen Christian's voice surges in like a singing bullet; lyrical onomatopoeia. The band not only owes this album to themselves, but to their original fans as well.
New Surrender is neither heard nor felt here.
Then comes the next song on the album, "Impossible." This one is unfortunately purely
New Surrender, but thank goodness the major-label induced need for a pop-rock radio hit limits itself to one song only and not the entire album, i.e. their previous one. Do yourself a favor, and like
New Surrender, skip this one and pretend it doesn't exist.
But the third song gets things back on track. The album has several ballads (with "Down" being particularly good), and they are all successfully pulled off in a Cities-esque fashion. The rockers on the album ("We Owe This to Ourselves," "Closer," "To the Wolves" and "All We Have") are not as strong as those found on the first three albums, but are nevertheless solid and purely Anberlin. Lyrically, the album doesn't seem as complex as past efforts, but this complexity is made up in the form of experimenting with several different musical sounds and styles that seem straight from a film score, resulting in complex sounding songs. This is not a negative though, in fact it becomes the distinguishing sound and feel of the album.
If "Dark" is the way, it's really only traveled in "Pray Tell," and with mixed results. And since it's Anberlin, the last song on the album is guaranteed to be the longest and aims to be the most epic. "Depraved" is epic, but not in the same way as "dance, dance Christa Päffgen" and "(*Fin)." It's epic more in its mixed compiling of distorted sounds than the lyrics and Christian's vocals.
Overall, the sound of the album is entirely familiar, yet entirely new at the same time.
Dark is the Way, Light is a Place sounds like the score to an '80s sci-fi action drama. The band has unmistakably recovered from
New Surrender, but the inclusion of "Impossible" and the love/hate sound of "Pray Tell" bring it slightly down. Let it be said though that
Anberlin is officially back.
