Anberlin Band • Page 182

lol they spelled indefinite wrong

 

I was actually thinking about this earlier. Every writer ever has at least a few lyrics that are kind of stinkers, hell, even Aaron Weiss of mewithoutYou has had some questionable moments and he's my favorite lyric writer, but Stephen is pretty consistently a good writer. Matty comes from a scene that may have the most consistently bad lyrics I've heard. For me liking a lot of bands in MMF's genre is an exercise in liking something despite the lyrics, and every MMF song I've heard was no exception (that band just isn't for me in general though).

 

indefi-Nate for Nate Young? lmao

 

I've been a casual Anberlin listener but just saw the news and did a double take...Matty Mullins? Hopefully he's still not as much of a fuckhead as he's been in the past but I'm not holding my breath. What a weird turn.

 

I feel mixed on this. Having never heard MM, I don't have any impressions on his voice but I will say Anberlin to me is Stephen's voice. And to echo what a lot of you said, "weird move".

I won't say no one has successfully used tour-only singers but the ones that have done it well have to pick singers that can at least match the original vocal quality of the content.

I skimmed this RS article and the results aren't pretty for bands who replace singers lol
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/...riest-with-tim-ripper-owens-1996-2003-179847/

 

I don’t remember why MM was disliked in the past but I’m surprised it hasn’t come up more.

that said, I would realistically still see the band. I totally get the “Anberlin and Christian are inseparable” mindset and while it’s unfair to the band, it’s how fans see it regardless; but at the end of the day they’re still playing songs I like and if the new stuff is good then I wanna support their futures.

my biggest problem here is just how boring MM’s voice and singing are. I haven’t been a fan of MMF since their first EP, but in my head, perhaps rather unfairly, MM has always just been one of the poster children for the change in (imo) post-late-aughts posthardcore/metalcore towards increasingly generic vocalists and generic-to-bad lyricism, whether clean or screamed vocalists. Like I just genuinely don’t hear a difference between his and his peers’ voices on record.

 

On one hand, as someone who's seen Anberlin twice and both times left feeling quite disappointed that Stephen's voice failed to really penetrate and was somewhat lost amid the haze of guitars, I'd be intrigued to see what they sounded like without him.

On the other hand, as others have said, his voice is so distinctive, his songwriting so important, his presence so integral to who Anberlin are, it'd be weird to see them without him - Mullins is such a different singer, I feel like it'd sound grating, hearing those songs with him signing (not trying to shit on him, but they just sound so drastically different).

 

This is such a wild move. I actually thought it was a joke at first.

 

https://www.theprp.com/2015/09/11/n...-regretful-of-his-past-slut-shaming-comments/

 

What is that song in the video?

 

presumably an unreleased new song

 

Spelling indefinite wrong sent me lol

 

My experience as well. I will say I think of the eras I saw them, their DITW was the best they sounded overall live imo. Around 09/10 or so

 

I’ve seen them many times and it always came down to mixing. Half the time it was pristine and sounded great, the other half it was muddy.

 

I did find a few videos of them playing with Matty on vocals and it's not as bad as I expected.

 

I was thinking they surely had to change the keys because Matty doesn't have Stephen's range and that's what they seem to have done for some songs judging by those videos. He sounds good.

 

Their live mix has been muddy two of the three times I saw them, surprisingly they sounded great at WWWYF. Likely not their fault.

I really dislike this news but I can tolerate if Matty is relegated to minor vocal guest spots on recordings. A Matty-led Anberlin song is an automatic no from me. I was a MMF fan in high school and am pretty well-versed in what he can and can't do as a vocalist, and he's never held a candle to Stephen. Plus, I've never heard great things about him as a person and that definitely colors how I view this.

I would still urge the band to find a different touring vocalist for a lot of reasons. But I do understand wanting to continue touring and having that income. Hell, Cove from Saosin would do a good enough job.

 

It’s been well over a decade but Cove was one of the worst live singers I’ve ever seen.

That being said, I’d still take him over Matty Mullins lol

 

Okay I gotta admit as someone who’s not super thrilled about any of this on paper and is far from a fan of Mullins, those actually sound pretty okay. I still don’t know if I’d go out of my way to see it, but it doesn’t sound half bad

 

Cove sounded great to me in 2005. Can’t speak to that past then though.

 

This probably would’ve been 2007-2008 I think. I mean it was only one time and everyone has off days, but it was just awful

 

I saw Cove with Saosin on the Alexis tour back in 08 and he sounded pretty rough then.

 

On a separate note, I listened to Convinced today with good headphones for the first time and the BGVs are killer, don’t think I ever noticed them before but they’re all over the place.

 

Yeah I need those Convinced vinyl preorders to come in. Need to give it a proper spin after only experiencing this album in the car

 

i saw MMF a couple weekends ago for the first time and they were solid live, mattys pipes hold up! i fell off them for years but their last album was solid, solid metalcore, all the way through every song was single worthy! in 2021 i heard this song on the radio and shazammed it, was surprised it was them and been hooked on their latest since, but i know it might not be for everyone but i think it's pretty damn good!