Anberlin - Dark Is The Way, Light Is The Place

Anberlin are a band that never quite got itself over the line.

Anberlin are a band that never quite got itself over the line. The push they’ve received into the mainstream- through radio airplay, consistent media attention- would have you believe they were a much more successful band than they really are, yet their music and appeal has often been more of a residual thud than a loud conceivable bang. It is not to say they are not competent, far from it, they’re actually really good at what they do- histrionic alternative rock rooted in punk aesthetics. Yet it’s all just very forgettable. Perhaps it didn’t help that the first song that caught initial attention was the Blueprints for the Black Market’s “Foreign Language.” For anyone who has heard this track, they can attest to it being one of the single worst songs you’ll hear from this genre. Hideous lyrics compounded by some of the most hilariously misplaced harmonies (those wacky “do do do do do’s … awful every time you hear it”) left a uniquely sour taste.

They did however, get much better, and through the sea of full lengths that followed- Never Take Friendship Personal, Cities, New Surrender- there was a vast improvement in their musical stability. Essentially, they wrote better songs peaking in mainstream appeal with New Surrender. Yet the lingering anonymous nature of their songs continued the plague them. So comes Dark Is The Way, Light Is the Place, their next foray into the faceless nature of radio friendly alternative rock that ends with surprisingly decent results. Buoyed by the impressively catchy single “Impossible” and the U2-esque structures of “Take Me (As You Found Me)”, Dark Is The Way proves that sometimes bland isn’t all that bad. Tempos are mixed (“Pray Tell”), melodies tightened (“You Belong Here”) and the pace of the album gives listeners something to come back to.

Saosin and Cirva Survive may do this with a bit more depth, but you can’t fault Anberlin for being who they are. Consistency has been a problem and while they’re really finding solid ground with their latest, it’s conspicuously safe. And one of the worst thing you could ever say about a rock band is that they’re pretty vanilla.

(Universal Republic)