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Cities

Anberlin | February 20th, 2007

With Never Take friendship Personal, Anberlin appeared to have found their niche. Although the album was far from perfect, it spawned a huge fan base from the two hit singles: “Paperthin Hymn” and “A Day Late.” With so much success going for them, many fans were worried that their follow up album would be a record catered solely to radio hits. Well you can all breathe a sigh of relief because Anberlin does not sell out on Cities. Even more so, they produce a great rock record.

One of my main gripes with Anberlin has always been their lack of creative drumming. It's not that anyone didn't think they could do it, it just seems like whenever drummer Nathan Young was about to break out he would simply return to a basic drumming pattern. Whether it is improvement with age or the band just letting him go crazy, Nathan's drumming has improved vastly. That becomes evident as soon as the band pounds into their second track “Godspeed.” After a short instrumental intro, the instrumentation ameliorates immediately and you can't help becoming excited. “Godspeed” picks up where “Dance, Dance Christina Paffgen” left off exploring the themes of fame and fortune, along with the negative aspects it has on people. The radio ready “Adelaide” is a fun and catchy song that will get stuck in your head for days on end. “A Whisper and A Clamor” has a nice guitar riff and has been said to be inspired by the Psalms. Anberlin then slows it down for their first ever acoustic based track in “The Unwinding Cable Car” and it is about as emotionally charged as they come. The song pleads for someone to come back to safekeeping. Although the lyrics never come out and say it, the song seems to be from God's perspective trying to reach a lost person - This is the correlation / Of salvation and love / Don't drop your arms / I'll guard your heart / With quiet words I'll lead you in.

The first real use of synthesizer is found on the next track “There is No Mathematics in Love and Loss.” The song turned me off at first but after multiple listens it grows on the listener and works very well. “Hello Alone” proceeds with a nice riff and speaks clearly of problems with the world and questioning if God truly cares. By the song's end it is clear that hope is restored and that He will be there no matter how bad the desperation. A look at the failures of the family structure follows with “Alexithymia.” The song continues the moody, emotional setting that Cities seems to set up for itself. Synthesizers come back into play with “Reclusion”, a song that identifies with unconfessed sin and the tearing apart that occurs within someone as a result. Cities hits the home stretch beginning with the touching “Inevitable” that discusses true undying love that can only be found in the one someone is supposed to wed. “Dismantle. Repair.” is a true masterpiece that just feels so honest that you can't help identifying with the song, One last glance from a taxicab / Images scar my mind / Four weeks have felt like years / Since your full attention was all mine / The night was young and so were we / Talked about life, God, death and your family. The album closes with the epic “Fin.” The song is truly one of the most passionate songs written recently and Anberlin lets emotion seep from every second of the song. The song opens with a delicate acoustic tempo and builds into a powerful sounding rock piece complete with a children's choir. The song serves as a perfect closer to Cities.

Cities is a great and complete rock record. Is it flawless? Close but not quite there. It does however blow the socks off past Anberlin records. Buy this album without any hesitation.

Reviewed by Christopher Powers on November 3rd, 2007

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