:: Anberlin - Cities (with Special Edition DVD)

Anberlin

After releasing two solid releases and spending the last two years extensively touring around the globe (which included a headlining tour of Australia in late January 2006), Florida-based emo/pop rock act Anberlin has once again teamed up with long time producer Aaron Sprinkle and returned once again with its all important and highly anticipated third full length effort ‘Cities’. Much like the jump in sound and growth between the first two albums, the group has once again taken another huge step up, with ‘Cities’ showcasing the band's progression in musical and song-writing skills. After a cinematic introduction piece entitled ‘(Début)’, the band get things underway with the first single from the album in the rocking ‘Godspeed’. With Young’s energetic performance, Christian’s glorious melodies and the thick/driving guitar sound, Anberlin are in form and clearly on fire from the word go.
‘Adelaide’ has potential to be the second single with its catchy and memorable chorus, while the keyboard driven duo of ‘There Is No Mathematics To Love And Loss’ and ‘Reclusion’, and the up tempo numbers ‘Alexithymia’, ‘Hello Alone’ and ‘Dismantle. Repair.’ all keep up the rock potion of the album flowing. The predominately acoustic ‘The Unwinding Cable Car’ sees the band experiment a little by allowing Christian to carry the song purely on his stunning vocal melodies, while ‘A Whisper & A Clamor’ and the epic ‘(*Fin)’ show a greater sense of experimentation creeping into the familiar Anberlin sound, with piano, strings and choir utilised throughout.

The special edition of ‘Cities’ comes with an additional three tracks, with the easy going ‘Uncanny’ every bit as worthy as any of the album’s original tracks. The other two tracks are covers of The Smiths (‘There is a Light That Never Goes Out’) and When In Rome (‘The Promise’) numbers, which sound a little out of context in their demo form, but worthy renditions nonetheless. Also included on the special edition is a bonus DVD, which features a twenty-nine minute black and white documentary surrounding the making of ‘Cities’, along with a variety of bonus features, a slideshow and a trailer. In the past, Anberlin have made some good records with some really good songs on them. But with the release of ‘Cities’, Anberlin has finally managed to make their first great album, with every song sounding like an absolute winner.