And with the title track, Never Take Friendship Personal, starting the disc off with a bang, it immediately looks as though the disc will deliver. And the opening song provides a pretty good overview of the entire CD, both lyrically and musically. Most of the songs on the disc are about relationships that need to be mended or are causing pain. The song and the disc as a whole paint a general picture of friendships and relationships gone awry, and warn that, to get through and move on, you truly have to heed those words: never take friendships personal.
The disc is full of a lot of quality tracks. (The Symphony Of) Blase, Time & Confusion, The Feel Good Drag and many others are solid songs musically. Lyrically, though each of these songs focus on relationships, they all take a very different approach, something that makes Anberlin a truly great band. Blase focuses on ending a relationship and moving on, even though it's a tough thing to do. Time & Confusion chooses to focus on a relationship that actually works, even through the tough times. And The Feel Good Drag chooses to write about a realtionship that isn't actually a relationship. It's a song about "the mistake" actions that some may take when in (or even not in) a relationship. They all are thought-provoking songs that are enjoyable on a variety of levels.
Some of the tracks on the disc stray away from a rock sound just a bit. Stationary Stationery and A Day Late both have just a hint of pop flavoring. It works extremely well, however. It's not an annoying pop sound by any standard. It's just a little extra something that works pretty well on both songs. Lyrically, the songs actually fit together really well, almost telling two different sides of the same story. Stationary Stationery speaks of a somewhat broken relationship that the singer is looking to mend. Similarily, A Day Late is written as a song from the other side of the story. It's basically a song about making it clear that the "love relationship" just isn't going to happen. At the same time, A Day Late is also about at least being friends after that fact is brought up, something that doesn't happen nearly as often as it could or should.
The stand-out tracks of the disc have to be Paperthin Hymn, Audrey, Start The Revolution!, and the aforementioned (The Symphony Of) Blase. These three songs are different musically and lyrically, but they both shine in their own respects. Paperthin Hymn does a really good job of bringing out the pain that the song is written in. Audrey, Start The Revolution!, on the other hand, takes the approach of a more battle cry type song. And Blase, as already mentioned, is about coping with ending a relationship. All three tracks are just plain awesome.
Overall, this disc is about as close to flawless as a disc has come in recent years. Musically, the songs do not get annoying. Lyrically, though there is a definite theme to the disc, the songs are able to stay fresh and creative. It's not very often that a band can create a disc with an overall theme that's relatively specific (either purposely or just because that's how it ended up) and do it well. Anberlin was able to not only do it well, but to do it wonderfully. This disc is definitely a must-have addition to your collection.