Anberlin Band • Page 173

Cities and NTFP are on top for me, and the rest are fairly interchangeable on any given day

 

Top tier:
NTFP
Cities

Middle tier:
Vital
Lowborn
New Surrender

Bottom tier:
Blueprints
Dark Is The Way

Too soon to place Silverline/Convinced for me.

 

Cities
NTFP
Vital

Blueprints
Lowborn

New Surrender

Dark Is the Way

 

Cities
Vital
NTFP
DITW

lowborn
NS

BPBM

 

Cities
Vital
NTFP
Lowborn

DITW
NS

Blueprints

 

Cities
NTFP
Vital

Dark Is the Way
Lowborn

New Surrender
Blueprints

Do not care about the EPs.

 

I'm learning some of ya'll should revisit Blueprints today. That album rules.

 

It isn't bad, I just don't ever go back to it. I really didn't get into them until NTFP. Ready Fuels is a jam though, I'll put Blueprints in the rotation today

 

Oh and the live acoustic version of Naive Orleans is amazing

 

Agreed, it’s great! The acoustic versions of Naive Orleans and Cadence are fantastic. I just don’t have the urge to go back to it nearly as much.

 

Cities
NTFP
Dark is the Way

Blueprints
Vital

New Surrender
Lowborn
E.P.'s

 

Among My All-Time Favorites:
Vital
Cities

Very Good, No Complaints:
NTFP

Good But Every Song Doesn’t Hit For Me:
DITW
Blueprints
NS

Some Songs Hit For Me:
Lowborn

Could Take Or Leave:
EPs

 

Vital/Devotion
Dark is the Way, Light Is a Place
Cities
Convinced EP
Silverline EP

Never Take Friendship Personal
Lowborn
Blueprints for the Black Market

New Surrender


(I love all of their albums, but this is my current ranking.)

 

Cities
Never Take Friendship Personal
Dark is the Way, Light Is a Place

Vital
Blueprints for the Black Market

New Surrender
Lowborn

I'm surprised to see Dark is the way so low on so many lists. That feels like the sonic peak of what they started in Cities (my favorite). I'm not sure where I'd put the most recent EPs though, probably in the second tier. I would love to hear these news songs in the context of a full album.

 

Cities
Vital (Devotion specifically, can't do without Unstable)

Lowborn
New Surrender
DITW

NTFP
BPFP

Always had a soft spot for NS because it was my first Anberlin release as a fan, but I also love everything.

 

I remember being such a "loose" fan of Anberlin and when Vital was announced/released, I figured I'd give it a listen. Self Starter pretty much blew me away and then I just deep dove into everything they had ever done. I know I've told my wedding story before but that Vital album is super important in my life.

 

I'm surprised it's so high for so many people, I think the songwriting on that album is so bad, especially lyrically.

 

I love NTFP and Cities, and I liked BPFBM back in the day, but this band fell off so hard for me after that. They really lost me with NS and DITW and I never really went back to them until these new EPs pulled me in. I do remember checking out Lowborn when it was announced as their final album and thinking it was just okay, but based on everything here I think I need to at least go back and check out Vital/Devotion.

 

Vital is great but I never really clicked with the Devotion tracks.

 

In all my music, I'm more of a full-album-listen kinda guy and the ones that really fit that for me are NTFP through Vital.

BFTBM and Lowborn are the two I would put on last, but I do really enjoy them both.

Cities and NS came out when I was in high school and were two I could never put down and still listen to regularly. There are a lot of good running songs on NS (BPM and all that) so I'd say that one I listen to more. The diverse musical pallet they had with that one keeps me going back to it.

DITW and Vital are up there as well for different reasons. My now wife and I's first concert together was on the Dark is the Way tour and I had Vital on almost continuously through college.

Would have to say, I've enjoyed everything they've put out. It's all gravy to me.

 

I don't revisit the Devotion tracks often either. Vital as a whole is their peak for me and one of many reasons is how well sequenced it is. I couldn't see any of the Devotion tracks as part of the main album.

 

As for my ranking, it'd go like this:

Vital
Cities
Lowborn
Silverline & Convinced
Never Take Friendship Personal
New Surrender
Blueprints for the Black Market
Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place

 

Vital
Cities
Convinced - nothing more is in the running for best closer in a catalogue full of great closers
Dark Is The Way/NTFP/lowborn swap places depending on how I’m feeling
Blueprints/silverline
New surrender

 

Listening to Devotion for the first time in a while and truly enjoy those bonus tracks SO much

 

Dance Dance Christa Paffgen and Fin are GOAT closers and I don't think anything else is particularly close.