Reviewed by Josh Dipple

From the famous Mars Hill church in Seattle, Washington comes this debut LP from Citizens, led by Zach Bolen. This is an album that can't be faulted for its energy, with songs that long to be played to big crowds at summer festivals, played expertly by a band who have obviously been studiously taking notes, watching the likes of Kings Of Leon and The Strokes. Songs like opener "Sweetness Of Freedom" through to track four "Made Alive" are relentless in their potent vigour with hooks that grab you like a caught fish, only to throw you back in with the album's six-minute centerpiece, "I Am Living In A Land Of Death". This is the disc's first flirtation with a slower tempo, power ballad style which builds to a guitar/synth climax reminiscent of Muse's "Knights Of Cydonia". Among the standouts on the second half of the album are a couple of hymn adaptations, including an explosive version of "I Surrender All". With the exposure that Tooth & Nail distribution will give them, Citizens could well become a major Christian music act Stateside.

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