There seems to be somewhat of a resurgence in power trios, and This City Awaits certainly fits in with this movement. This three-piece group from Dallas Texas is fairly new, forming in 2010 and releasing their debut album Code Red: Urgency in 2011. Following some relentless touring after the release of that album, they were noticed by Red Cord Records and eventually signed to their imprint, BridgeWay Entertainment, who handles bands a bit less metallic than those on Red Cord Records.

This City Awaits is basic rock-n-roll, with a modern twist to it, which could move it into the “hard alternative/hard rock” category. With the exception of the closing, acoustic ballad “Salutation”, This City Awaits makes good use of driving guitars and drums in their sound. Most striking to me are the vocals which very strongly resemble those of Jon Micah Sumrall from Kutless. Being a new band, comparisons to existing bands are inevitable, and my ears would place This City Awaits as a mix of Chevelle and older Kutless. Some of what I’ve heard off their debut album would move them more toward Chevelle, while on “…said the Liar”, their sound has taken more of a shift toward the style of older Kutless.

There is definitely a feeling of youthful exuberance on this album, like what you would expect from a new band that doesn’t have years of experience playing together and struggling through the inevitable disasters found on the road. In 2012, they did pull off over 90 shows, so they have most certainly seen their share of struggles on the road, and that likely plays a good part in the tightness of their sound and this will only continue to mature and get stronger as they stay together.

Overall production, which was handled by Chris Galvez, is very good and is very clean as one would expect within this genre. From my view, the song “Cardiac Arrest” is the strongest one on the album, and one of the more different songs, starting off almost like it could be a melodic punk song. Several of the songs are similar in style to the first song “Nathan” which was also released as a video. Loud, guitar driven, staccato riffing with accompanying vocals on verses, contrasting with some melodic softer sections and melodic choruses are common elements in their sound and in some cases seem almost overused. On first listen, I though the first two songs were one long song as they are quite similar. Keep in mind, they are not bad and good listen, but in this case changing up the song order might have been a good thing. One aspect of their sound that just didn’t work for me at all were the supporting screaming vocals that almost seem to have been added as an afterthought, perhaps to bring in some additional emotion to parts of the songs.

This City Awaits has crafted a strong release for their debut on Red Cord Records/BridgeWay Entertainment and are one of those bands to keep an eye on as they will likely only continue to get better as they gain experience.

Rating: 7/10

Written by John Jackson

Tracklist:
1) Nathan
2) This Darkness [Listen]
3) Hold Still
4) Yet There Is Life
5) Dead and Gone
6) White Ambulance
7) Focus
8) Cardiac Arrest
9) Farther Away
10) Salutation

Band members:
Phillip Ivey – Lead Vocals/Guitars
Darah Hubbard – Drums
Kyle Ross – Bass/Backing vocals

Weblinks: Facebook / Twitter / Website

Record Label: BridgeWay Entertainment/Red Cord Records, April 2013

Buy the album here:
Holland: First Paradox 
Norway: Nordic Mission

Video for the song “Nathan”: