Anberlin - Cities (Special Edition)

Reviewed by Haydon Spenceley

Anberlin's two previous albums 'Blueprints For The Black Market' and 'Never Take Friendship Personal' have rightly been heralded as two of the best Tooth & Nail releases of recent times, and 'Cities' merely serves to highlight this band's progression towards the big league. Full of searing melodies, sweeping instrumentation, clever production and some of the sweetest harmonies you'll hear in this genre this year (see "Adelaide" for examples of all of these noteworthy traits) this is the sort of record that you should be listening to. It's great to find a band developing and moulding themselves into a better, tighter unit with each album, in this age of one and two album bands who disappear quickly from whence they came. It seems that Anberlin have toughened up a little bit, with the guitars a little meatier, the grooves a little tighter and the production muscles of Aaron Sprinkle flexed a little more. Every song is a winner here, with "Godspeed" and "A Whisper & A Clamour" particular highlights, getting the album off to a rollicking start. Truth be told though, the album never really lets up, and this is one you should be adding to your collection, particularly with the addition of bonus tracks (including a cover of The Smiths' song "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out") on this Special Edition.