Album Review: Cymbals Eat Guitars - Pretty Years

Cymbals Eat Guitars have never been shy. 

They've gone through several personnel changes though the years, yet despite the vagaries of popularity, they remain willing and able to give it everything. Pretty Years is bookended with stadium-ready anthems that are simply breathtaking, and the rest of the album is as sharp, angular and as overwhelming as they've ever been. The album fluctuates in tone: the sunny riffs of Have A Heart compete with the gritty frustration of Beams for dominance, but between them there's a hopeful, defiant quality that permeates the record.