Review Summary: Cheap shot
Anberlin’s new album Vega is nothing short of a disappointment. Before I get into the why I guess I need to address the fact that I do enjoy these songs. Actually, I’ve heard most of these songs countless of times before release (that is 83.33% of the album) and the reason why is because this “brand new album” is actually just Silverline, released in 2022, and Convinced, released in 2023, slapped together with two new songs featuring Anberlin’s new touring singer Matty Mullins.
Circa Survive pulled something similar with 2022’s Two Dreams. The band released two EP’s in the course of 2021 and 2022, each sold in different vinyl variants, only to be sold yet again in the form of a compilation including both EP’s. This trend is obviously meant to be a quick cash grab, but even with that mind at the very least the aforementioned release was marketed as a compilation and not an actual LP. I believe a more accurate example of re-releasing material in the form of a new album is 2014’s Crosses debut. On this particular case, after releasing two 5 songs EP’s for digital download, the duo decided to recycle this material but adding a third then-unreleased 5 song EP in a sequence that actually made sense and made it into a full length. What I mean using these examples is that something like this has been done before, but it can either make or break and band’s reputation, as these things can obviously be marketed with enough tact, consideration and respect for its audience, and I don’t believe this is the scenario with Vega.
This “brand new album” followed a very strange and confusing set of statements made by the band; Stephen Christian announced he won’t be touring with Anberlin despite the fact that the band just recently came back from their hiatus, played a few shows and released new material. Shortly after Matty Mullins was announced as replacement yet Stephen would still be involved in the recording process for new material. Obviously, fans were pretty anxious and interested in whatever the band would be doing next, specially since the touring situation is tricky and posed several questions in regards to recording with two vocalists. Then Vega was announced and reality sets in, as this purely a marketing ploy for bigger tours and sales. That’s it and there is nothing beyond what is really going on here, and that’s what really hurts this release and the band’s legacy. A wasted opportunity to say the least.
As for the two new songs, “Seven” is pretty good and explores the heavy side of Anberlin that was already displayed with “Two Graves”, “Lacerate” and “Animals”. Matty actually sounds decent here (even though still not a good fit for Anberlin, in my opinion), and then “Walk Alone” is a pop punk song that attempts to go back to the band’s roots, but ends up sounding generic at best. I guess if you go into this without ever listening to either Silverline or Convinced then sure there’s plenty of great material here, but this album represents a cheap shot to the fans and their own legacy that shouldn’t be replicated by any other set of respectable musicians.
