Cities proves Anberlin is capable of producing albums. No more, no less.

January 2, 2008 · Print This Article

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Anberlin is a fairly interesting case among alternative rock bands. They don’t appear to receive much radio airtime, and don’t seem to be as well-known as most bands in the mainstream. Instead, Anberlin’s large fanbase stems mostly from Christian listeners and the Internet crowd.

I tend to like Anberlin, or at least not hate them - they make good, clean rock music and manage to do so without shoving Jesus down listeners’ throats. That said, an album needs to be exceptional for me to give it a good score, and Cities is not. It’s Anberlin doing what they do the same way they’ve done it for two albums now: standard rock that doesn’t have that irritating holy water aftertaste despite being technically Christian, but that doesn’t really stick with the listener either. Fans will buy it because they’re fans, new listeners will enjoy it if they would’ve enjoyed Anberlin anyway, and the world will continue as it always has.

Cities could easily be retitled “Generic Anberlin Album” (If they decide to use that idea for their next release, I’m going to try to claim royalties, so wish me luck.) All the criticisms I could make about their previous efforts would apply here, primarily that the lyrics are on the lame side, the vocals could use a lot less wailing, and all in all the band really needs to decide if they’re a rock or emo group. The highlights of the band’s previous work are here in full force as well: Anberlin’s guitar work is as impressive as ever, and they certainly know how to throw together a catchy hook on top of that.

In particular, the opening track “Godspeed” features an abundance of pounding riffs and vocals that don’t distract from them, a combination that makes it one of the best songs that Anberlin have produced yet. If it weren’t for the wonder that is iTunes, I’d recommend this album on the strength of this track alone.

“Godspeed” is great, but the album blows its load here and the rest of Cities quickly degenerates into drudgery; the tendency of the songs to mix together and become forgettable is another trait Cities inherits from Anberlin’s previous albums. There are a few other standout tracks at least; “Hello Alone” features more great guitar work and might have been a contender for the album’s best track if the vocals were better, “Reclusion” is about as close as Anberlin has come to melting my face off, and “There Is a Light That Never Goes Dope” shows that the group could actually have good vocals if they chose to do so.

On the whole, however, this is an album that seems to cater to Anberlin’s existing fanbase. The group doesn’t tread any new ground here, nor do they really exceed expectations of them based on their previous two albums. This is a decent album, and alternative rock fans could certainly do a whole lot worse than Cities. The problem is that they could also do a whole lot better.

Cory