This is the big leagues now boys. Your executives won't be pondering as to whether it's a strictly Christian decision to send you back to Florida with amputated tails should you fail to shift a million units.
Your producer of three albums Aaron Sprinkle is gone, replaced by whoever it was that imbued the latest Fall-Out Boy and Yellowcard albums with that warm punchy, super-compressed sound that radio DJs love so much.
There is no warm-up, no time to grow, this is your career and it looks remarkably like that scene in every movie where the heroes fly/run/drive towards the door as it slowly closes upon itself. Only this time, there is no sunlight beaming through the cracks, just the promise of infinite doors until one day, you may not be fast enough.
This is your career, and the pressure could make you blind.
It's nice to see that you've perfected your formula. Those slashing riffs which support vocals so sweet you could be eating through a straw until the suction is lost. The manner in which they give way to strained almost-screams too. Nothing says earnestness like being earnest. Those choruses too are captivating, not so much that we'll be humming them at whichever funeral we're meant to be sad at this week, but catchy enough to still be firing through the synapses as the next song produced by whoever it was that did the latest Fall-Out Boy album fires up with its warm and punchy sound which the DJs love so much.
This is your career and more synapses equal more t-shirt sales.
We doubt anyone will notice that "Breaking" pretty much lifts the opening riff from "Cute Without the 'E'". It's all been done before, and you wanna do it again. We can respect that. On a similar note, Latin song titles are in vogue right now, so it's nice to see some heavy utilisation. After all, why say “Tragedy Leads to Inspiration” when you can say "Misearbile Visu (Ex Malo Bonum)", a bit of mystery equals more MySpace friends.
We're sure you all sat in a room with sixty people all suited-up, eager to see the associated cool which their money had bought. We're sure they nodded along with every verse, happy that there were lines like "Failure is your disease / You want my outline drawn / You are my greatest failure" which the kids will love. A content person is useless to them, nothing says disposable income like disposable happiness, disposable loves, disposable ideas. They likely slapped you on the back afterwards, after all, you deserve it, you didn't change who you were for them. All you did was to change the world in which you live. We don't change who we are when we enter a new zip code.... do we?
So well done on your new album, twelve new songs for us to enjoy, using your emotions as a catalyst for our own. If we shopped at Wal-Mart, perhaps we'd be better people and qualify for that bonus set of emotions. Two extra songs just to say “Your conglomerate needs you!”. But we don't. The dodecalogue of tracks show us the requisite number of sides to you. We experienced the war, the tragedy, the love, the adventure and the revelations right there with you. So where can we get the ringtone to scream what we've undergone to all those who would otherwise be strangers to us.
This is your career, and a major label doesn't mean you sold out. It means you put yourself out on lease to a world one click away from demolition. Long may your explosives remain unignited.
7 / 10
this is terrible? wtf?
I agree, this is the worst review I've ever seen. Aren't you supposed to give a reason why you give the album the rating that you do?
Somebody kill that retard.
Pretty bad man. Sounds like you wrote this before hearing anything other than Feel Good Drag and Breaking.
And the whole sitting you down and nodding at the lyrics. Those lyrics were written years ago the first time they released that song. It has nothing to do with being on a major label.
I think you need to take a look at things before you generalize bands based on what labels they are on.
Disappointing to say the least. Don't write any more reviews...please.
What about the actual music? There is very little in this review by way of... well, actually reviewing the music. A few comments about how the lyrics may have been contrived for maximizing profit mixed in with quite a lot in the speculation department about some totally imagined situations.
Thanks for making very generalized blanket statements that rely on reasoning that's questionable at best and more likely just out of place in a professional review.
Considering that the entire piece consists of a self-important monologue on the proverbial soapbox, I'm surprised to see the album even received a 7 from the reviewer. Even the most positive statements were more like backhanded compliments.
The record in its entirety (minus the bonus Wal-Mart tracks that the reviewer is quick to judge the motives behind) is now available on myspace, and I would encourage all other patrons of this site to actually preview it... it's not done justice here. My opinion remains that it is a high quality album from a very talented band.
What about the actual music? There is very little in this review by way of... well, actually reviewing the music. A few comments about how the lyrics may have been contrived for maximizing profit mixed in with quite a lot in the speculation department about some totally imagined situations.
Thanks for making very generalized blanket statements that rely on reasoning that's questionable at best and more likely just out of place in a professional review.
Considering that the entire piece consists of a self-important monologue on the proverbial soapbox, I'm surprised to see the album even received a 7 from the reviewer. Even the most positive statements were more like backhanded compliments.
The record in its entirety (minus the bonus Wal-Mart tracks that the reviewer is quick to judge the motives behind) is now available on myspace, and I would encourage all other patrons of this site to actually preview it... it's not done justice here. My opinion remains that it is a high quality album from a very talented band.
oops... sorry for the double post. Who's the retard now?
Im sorry but this is a sorry excuse for a review and to blame the record industry and base it on two songs is futile, if anyone is actually looking for a review check out this link:
This review sucks! It doesn't even say anything about the music!!! I love the entire album, and really think this review is harsh and unfair, especially when it hardly mentions the actual music!
would you guys listen to yourself???? he gave it 7/10 ffs! that's a good score!!!
You're a moron.
this article is complete bs. you don't even know about the band so how can you write an accurate review on them? i mean really? thinking that they did all this to get the attention and fame? what are you thinking? "The Feel Good Drag" was from more than 1 year ago, so it wasn't just to get in the big time right now. I can't believe you would even write a review on a band that you don't even know about. you know basically 2 songs. oooh good for you.
Do not people read before commenting anymore. True, he didn't talk about the music much, but he did speak of the struggle bands face to be who they are when they're thrown into a world of greed and sales-fixated executives.
If anything, this is probably one of the most glowing reviews of Anberlin I've read for a while (which wasn't written by an obvious fan-boy)
On paper, it's hard... Read on
Genre hybrids are nothing... Read on
Freshly processed from the strangeglue.com playlist at Last.fm
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Gregory
commented 2 months ago
Dude, you can't just assume that Anberlin lined up for the suits because they signed to a major label. This review is idiotic.