The Afters ‘The Beginning & Everything After’ Album Review

The Afters
The Beginning & Everything After
(FairTrade)

Your relationship with The Afters’ latest album will likely correlate to how much of their catalog you already have in hand. Twelve years have passed since the band enjoyed a meteoric rise with their hit single “Beautiful Love,” and a steady stream of captivating pop/rock releases have followed ever since.

It’s now time for The Afters greatest hits package to properly cull together the best material from the quartet’s five studio albums. Fan favorites like “Light Up The Sky,” “Every Good Thing,” “Broken Hallelujah” and, of course, “Beautiful Love” all take up real estate on the compilation. If you already own all of this, or simply made a best of playlist, then it’s familiar ground—for better or worse.

The good news is that two new tracks are present and worthy additions to a collection like this. “Well Done” feels like one of MercyMe’s most inspirational anthems, a song that will find myriad uses in memorial services, congregational gatherings, soundtrack placement and more. “Fear No More” is a straightforward midtempo track intended to encourage believers to trust in God in the darker hours of life.

A new album is already in the works from The Afters for 2019, and the new tracks on The Beginning & Everything After show the veteran band is more than ready to keep adding to the hits collected here.

–Matt Conner