CURRENCY
I've always been a fan of Anberlin with Stephen Christian. Matty Mullins has been on the microphone for a few years now and has already left a good impression on me. Nevertake, the re-recording of Never Take Friendship Personal with Matty, is significantly different, but it doesn't pale in comparison to the original.
With this new album, CURRENCY, Anberlin's new direction becomes even clearer. And no, it doesn't sound exactly like the same band, but listeners familiar with Anberlin will certainly pick out elements that are recognizable.
In this review, I'm not going to discuss what I hear song by song, as I find the stylistic direction much more important. Even in earlier work from the Matty era, we heard the style shifting toward harder rock. This isn't just in the music, but also in the mix. Everything is slightly more compressed and the energy level has clearly increased.
If you ask me, CURRENCY is a strong album by a band that has cleverly reinvented itself. Deep down, I'm sad that it's not with Stephen Christian, but that's just because I don't really like change, like most people. In other words, that has nothing to do with Matty Mullins' performance, because that is excellent.
