Currency

Changing direction after more than two decades as a band is never going to be an easy thing, especially when you’ve built a following around a sound and a vocalist that people have grown up listening to. Anberlin are now entering a new chapter with Currency, their ninth studio album and their first full length release featuring Matty Mullins on lead vocals. It’s a significant change for a band with such an established history but rather than simply trying to recreate what came before, this record looks towards what Anberlin can become next.

Across eleven tracks, Currency tackles some difficult subject matter, exploring heartbreak, loss, addiction, shame and the uncomfortable process of rebuilding your identity when everything you’ve relied on begins to fall apart. It’s an idea that gives the album a clear sense of purpose and one that feels particularly fitting for a band navigating change themselves. Sometimes, moving forward means accepting that you can’t go back to the way things were, no matter how much you might want to.

The opening track, Neverafter sets the tone for this new era. There’s something immediately fitting about a title that challenges the idea of a happy ending, particularly when considering the themes running throughout the album. Rather than presenting a straightforward story of overcoming adversity, the record centres on the messier reality of dealing with the consequences of our decisions and learning to live with the things we cannot change. It’s a strong foundation for an album that clearly wants to explore more than surface level emotions.

Gravity takes the record into another reflective direction, confronting mortality and the realisation that our time is limited. It’s a subject that can easily become overly sentimental but the underlying message is an important one, stop allowing fear and uncertainty to dictate your life and make the most of the people and moments that genuinely matter. That idea gives the album a sense of perspective, balancing its darker themes with the possibility of finding something meaningful on the other side of difficult experiences.

There’s also a sense of urgency surrounding Highstakes which sits naturally within a record concerned with the consequences of the choices we make. The album’s early run establishes its central ideas without relying on a single narrative, allowing different aspects of personal struggle to sit alongside one another. It’s a direction that gives the tracklist a wider emotional context, rather than making the songs feel like isolated statements.

One of the biggest talking points throughout Currency is undoubtedly Mullins presence behind the microphone. Taking over lead vocal duties in a band with Anberlin’s history comes with considerable expectations and comparisons with the past are inevitable. Longtime listeners will naturally approach this album with their own ideas about what Anberlin should sound like, particularly given how closely a band’s identity can become tied to the voice that defined its earlier years.

However, the most important question is whether this new chapter can establish an identity of its own. Mullins brings a different perspective to the band’s material and this is an opportunity for Anberlin to move forward without being permanently tied to one particular period of their career. Rather than judging the album solely on how closely it resembles the band’s earlier releases, it’s worth considering what this lineup can offer in its own right.

That change feels particularly relevant when considering the album’s wider themes. Currency is concerned with what happens when the foundations of your identity begin to crumble, forcing you to confront the uncomfortable truth that the person you once were might not be the person you need to become. There’s an obvious parallel with a band entering a new era although the record’s subject matter reaches well beyond that comparison.

Ghost and Medicare continue the album’s darker thematic direction with their titles suggesting absence, avoidance and the desire to escape whatever is causing pain. These are experiences that many listeners will recognise, whether through relationships that have broken down, personal battles they’ve struggled to overcome or the temptation to bury problems rather than face them. It’s this underlying human element that gives the album’s concept its potential to connect with people beyond the band’s established fanbase.

Then comes Trenches featuring Switchfoot, a collaboration that makes plenty of sense given the two bands shared place in alternative rock. Bringing Switchfoot into the record creates a natural point of connection between two acts with established histories of their own. More importantly, the idea of standing alongside someone through difficult circumstances fits neatly within the album’s wider exploration of recovery and resilience. Sometimes getting through the worst moments of your life isn’t about finding an immediate solution, it’s about recognising that you don’t have to face everything alone.

The second half of the album moves further into the consequences of personal struggle. Aftermath suggests the point at which the immediate damage has been done and you’re left dealing with what remains. Relapse brings the possibility of falling back into old habits into the picture, while Displace and Lies continue the record’s focus on identity, avoidance and the stories people tell themselves to make difficult situations easier to live with.

These themes are particularly effective as a collective concept because recovery is rarely a straightforward process. Progress can be followed by setbacks and recognising a problem doesn’t necessarily mean knowing how to solve it. By exploring different aspects of that experience across the tracklist, Anberlin gives Currency a sense of emotional continuity. The record isn’t simply about reaching a point where everything is suddenly fine, it’s about the difficult work involved in getting there.

Closing with Ashes is an appropriate choice for an album built around loss and renewal. The image of ashes carries a sense of destruction but it also represents what remains once something has burned away. There is room for both interpretations here, the end of something that once mattered and the possibility of building something different from what survives. As a final chapter to the album’s wider themes, it leaves the idea of transformation hanging over the record.

Behind the concept, the album also represents an important creative step for the band. Produced by Anberlin alongside Kellen McGregor of Memphis May Fire, CURRENCY brings together the group’s established identity and the opportunity to develop a different direction. Drawing from previously unfinished material while giving Mullins space to contribute his own character to the songs, the album represents an attempt to move forward without completely abandoning the past.

That balance is important. A change in vocalist can attract attention but it takes more than a different voice to establish a convincing new era. The songwriting, the arrangement of the record and the relationship between its individual themes all contribute to whether a release feels like a genuine progression. With Currency, the intention is clear. Anberlin are not looking to spend the rest of their career recreating their earlier years.

Ultimately, Currency arrives at an interesting point in Anberlin’s story. It’s an album about confronting the things that have hurt us, recognising the lies we’ve told ourselves and accepting that moving forward sometimes requires leaving parts of our old identity behind. Those are difficult subjects but they’re also universal experiences that can make music feel personal to the people listening.

For longtime fans, this new chapter will inevitably bring questions about what Anberlin should sound like and how Mullins fits into the band’s legacy. For others, it offers an opportunity to approach the group without the weight of those expectations. Either way, the album’s central message is one worth exploring: change doesn’t have to mean losing everything that came before and healing doesn’t require pretending that the damage never happened.

Currency marks the beginning of a new era for Anberlin, one built around self reflection, difficult truths and the possibility of starting again. The real test will be how deeply its songs connect with listeners but its underlying concept gives this next chapter a clear direction. After nearly twenty five years, Anberlin are still looking for ways to move forward and that willingness to embrace change is an important part of keeping a band’s story alive.