Review Summary: Anberlin get left to the wolves.
Chapter V: Wearing Me Out
Anberlin were at the prime of their careers in 2008 – “Feel Good Drag” blew up the airwaves, reaching #1 on Billboard’s Alternative charts and staying on the placing for a year, they had just released two of their best albums in rapid succession, plus they had a bright future ahead of them – with such a talented roster, it was clear that Anberlin were going to do great things. After touring for five shows, they took a two-year break, relishing in their newfound fame and glory before heading back to the studios and recording their long awaited follow-up to
New Surrender. Based on the strength of lead single “Impossible” and the band’s prior track record of maintaining consistency,
Dark is the Way, Light is a Place looked like it was going to continue Anberlin’s trend of excellent releases.
So what went wrong?
Dark is the Way was advertised by drummer Nate Young as a “darker” record, sounding “less poppy” than its predecessors. Now, pre-release statements by band members aren’t always accurate – after all,
New Surrender had “The Resistance”, “Soft Skeletons” and “Feel Good Drag”, and we all know about
Cities and the depressingly beautiful “(*Fin)”, not to mention the riff-laden “Godspeed” and “A Whisper & A Clamor”. Besides, “Impossible” was practically the band’s poppiest lead single since “A Day Late” back in 2005 on
Never Take Friendship Personal.
Sadly, Young’s description of
Dark is the Way, Light is a Place did not hold up upon release day. Opener “We Owe This to Ourselves” continues the band’s tradition of hard-hitting introductions, but furious drumming and heavy riffs can’t make up for the track’s incredibly weak structure – half the song is just Stephen Christian monotonously repeating, “we owe this to ourselves, we owe this to ourselves, we can’t just let it go”, without his traditional vocal spark. The energy and emotion that infused itself within “Godspeed” or “The Resistance” is shocking absent, and this is an issue that isn’t just in “We Owe This to Ourselves” – it’s something that makes
Dark is the Way considerably less in quality to
New Surrender and
Cities. When Christian laments “The best I was is a long forgotten curse” on acoustic snoozer “Down”, it’s without the emotion and sadness that came with “The Unwinding Cable Car”. And without emotion, Anberlin are just a mere fraction of their full potential, a hollow shell of their past.
For an album that’s supposed to be grim and heavy,
Dark is the Way, Light is a Place contains lots of ballads, especially in the record’s front half. “Take Me (As You Found Me)” is perhaps the best of the bunch, offering at least a slight trace of passion that “Closer” and “You Belong Here” don’t have. Hell, it’s even got a nice climax to boast. Nevertheless, it’s the album’s heavier rear end that delivers quintessential Anberlin – “To the Wolves” ranks amongst “Never Take Friendship Personal” in terms of sheer riff-driven goodness. Christian gives perhaps his best vocal performance on the album, and from the opening lyrics of “You wanna put two in my chest, I wanna be the one inside your head”, the record’s most aggressive track gives way to the best showcasing of the band’s talents. Although “Art of War” disappoints with its juvenile lyrics and weak verses, it makes up for its blemishes with its anthemic, arena-ready chorus and absolutely wicked guitar solo courtesy of Joseph Milligan.
All of
Dark is the Way, Light is the Way’s faults are forgiven, however, with “Depraved”. Continuing the tradition of epic closers, “Depraved” is substantially shorter than the nine-minute long “(*Fin)” and the seven-minute long “Miserabile Visu (Ex Malo Bonum)”, but it’s just as effective. With a buildup reminiscent to that of
Cities’ final outing, “Depraved” gradually progresses before releasing all its pent-up energy and emotion in one hushed cry of anger. Although its repetitive lyrics do diminish the track’s quality somewhat, it’s a minor quibble in the conclusion to perhaps Anberlin’s most disappointing release yet.
Coming off the masterpiece that was
Cities and the underrated gem that was
New Surrender, one would naturally expect for Anberlin to churn out another quality release, but
Dark is the Way, Light is a Place sees the band at its most stale and uninteresting point in their career. The energy that drove Stephen Christian’s awe-inspiring vocals are gone, and it seems as if that’s the primary source of the album’s lack of memorability. Despite a few interesting moments,
Dark is the Way is muddled not only by its uninspired vocals but also its repetitiveness. Many choruses consist of nothing but a phrase repeated several times (see: “We Owe This to Ourselves”, “Closer”, even highlights “To the Wolves” and “Depraved”), and the placement of ballad after ballad in the record’s terminus probably wasn’t such a good idea. With only ten tracks, each track had better be great in order to justify such a short runtime, yet it never delivers. Luckily, Anberlin had one more trick up its sleeve…
