Originally Posted by Searos

Dark is the way had better lyrics but was missing that classic Anberlin feel. I enjoyed it and it was definitely better than New Surrender but looking forward to vital as it seems like it will be the Anberlin I remember even if they experiment.

Dark had better lyrics? The lyrics on that album were awful, completely ruined the whole thing for me.

Originally Posted by scooterf

They were definitely not awful. They were just a vastly different style. They had a much more poetic feel to them (clever MLK Jr. references on We Owe This as an example). The lyrics were more poetic than prosaic which was a major departure as Stephen usually tells stories in his songs. I do think the prosaic style works much better for Anberlin though, so I see the complaints, but calling the lyrics awful suggests that some of them went over your head.

When they make an album unlistenable because they're so repetitive and annoying then yeah, id say they're awful.

Originally Posted by Searos

eh I guess difference of opinion. The album was definitely different than anything they had every done and I can't say it is my favorite but I thought it came out really well.

Yeah, I just hate that album. Musically I actually quite like some of it but the lyrics just kill it for me.

Originally Posted by Micah511

awful, no, repetitve, yes. the repetitve-ness in choruses like closer, we owe this to ourselves, to the wolves and depraved are what keep me from going back to that record more. Im pretty sure stephen did that on purpose though, it just wasnt my favorite. in my opinion, one of the best songs theyve ever written has one of the choruses with the most words in dismantle. repair.

Yeah, that makes them awful imo. A chorus of "Closer, closer, clooooooooser" is shit. Like you said, Dismantle. Repair. has an amazing chorus, Anberlin have a lot of great chorus' lyrically, none of them are on Dark.