Cities

2000s alternative emo at its finest!

“Cities” is a criminally underrated album of the 2000s emo alternative rock scene. It has everything you’d look for in such an album: high-adrenaline heavy rock, bittersweet romanticism, and deep explorations of the darker parts of the self. “The Unwinding Cable Car” and “Inevitable” are two of the loveliest ballads to come out of the scene. Some other songs have a dark industrial rock sound. The songs take a brutally honest look at depression. Perhaps the best track is the 9-minute epic closer “(*Fin)” that explores a “patron saint of lost causes.” It starts quietly with melodic acoustic guitar before eventually exploding into hard rock, a children’s choir, and the frontman just wailing. It’s the perfect album for revisiting your emo youth!