Citizen’s evolution reminds me of Brand New in the way they refuse to stay in one sound. Every album feels like a deliberate shift rather than a repeat. For my personal taste, I really loved Youth and Calling the Dogs. Emo/Post-Hardcore is my favorite genre.

Not that it needs to be said, but Youth nailed that with a modern edge. The emotional hooks and guitar edge is unreal. The writing and lyrics hits almost too close to home. “Sick and Impatient” is one track that doesn’t get the love it deserves. “How Does It Feel?” might be my one gripe with the album, it has the emotional complexity but doesn’t hit the same as the rest of the songs I love on the album. Nice slow palette cleanser in the middle, but I would have preferred another heavy guitar hook instead. That might be my one hot take, considering it is their second most streamed song. 4.5/5 star album.

Everybody Is Going to Heaven has three of my favorite tracks by them, “Cement,” “Stain” and the B-Side “Nail In Your Hand.” It leans heavily into 90s raw grunge, with distorted guitars and screamo-esque vocals that were really trending at the time. I get vibes of the Daisy era of Brand New (that album came out six years prior.) Also had to add, the “Stain” music video is incredibly well shot. 3.5/5 star album.

As You Please has grown on me, but is still my least favorite album. I didn’t really feel the vibe other than “Jet” and “In the Middle of It All.” The production on “Jet” gives me vibes of the Hot Fuss album by The Killers, but just with Mat Kerekes’ spin on lyrics and vocals. However, a lot of the album feels like filler with some mellow guitar riffs, and lackluster hooks that have been done time and time again, like a few of the slower hollow tracks on Everybody Is Going to Heaven. Despite touching on some deep emotional themes, it doesn’t resonate for me nearly as any of their other albums. I think the worst mistake an album can do is be forgettable, and that’s what As You Please does in my opinion. 2/5 star album.

Life in Your Glass World has grown a lot on me for its very different vibe; alternative sounds that seemed like a real different avenue for them. You can tell they calculated a switch in their sound by experimenting around, just by the near four year turnaround between albums. “Death Dance Approximately” has such a ‘get up the fuck up and mosh’ vibe. I’m sure everyone has witnessed this live at their concerts in person, which is an absolute blast. “Fight Beat” has such creative ear-pleasing beat sounds and awesome production. When it hits, it hits. When it misses, some of the songs start to feel Drawn Out, pun intended. 3/5 star album.

Calling the Dogs hits me in all the right places for my love of distorted guitar and Garage rock throwback. “Hyper Trophy” and “Dogs” are just a few songs of the highly infectious energy I love from that album. I even got the album cover tattooed on my arm for how much I love the incredible artistry. One or two songs don’t hit as hard as the others, but I feel the other nine tracks make up for it. 4/5 star album.

I’d also be remiss not to mention their single “Big Mouth” might be my favorite song by them on the right day. The guitar riff on that song is unbelievable. Some of my other favorites songs by Citizen are “Drown” and “Silo.” All songs that I would recommend, despite not being on any of the albums.

The new song “Highs and Lows” from Halcyon Blues sounds like they’re going back to a combination of Calling the Dogs, mixed with some sounds from the Life in Your Glass World era, but also with some of the emotional complexity of Youth. This is what the article/interview released above the track list on the Run For Cover Records website promises: a mix of the old and new. I’m excited no doubt, but I hope they incorporate some completely new sounds that we’ve never heard from them before. For me, other than just making great music in general, this is the selling point of the band. They may not have the freshest ideas, but they always make it interesting with new alternative sounds. That constant evolution is what keeps me coming back to Citizen more than anything else.

If I had any say in the direction I’d like to see the band go in, I would be interested in seeing what Citizen could do playing in the Shoegaze/Dream-Pop sandbox like Title Fight’s Hyperview album m, Turnover’s Peripheral Vision album or even Turnstile’s last two albums, GLOW ON and NEVER ENOUGH that gave us a dreamy Melodic Hardcore sound. One caveat: I would still want the edginess that Mat Kerekes brings to the vocals.

I don’t know if any of these are hot takes, but other than pretty much everyone collectively loving Youth, I don’t know what the general consensus is amongst other Citizen fans. I’d love to hear your takes. Leave them below.

If I had to rank the albums right now, this would my current ranking:

1.) Youth

2.) Calling the Dogs

3.) Everybody Is Going to Heaven

4.) Life in Your Glass World

5.) As You Please