Cities - Annihilation Absolute (1985)

The album cover suggests some type of late '80s Bay Area thrash act, but Cities are far from it - in fact this from '85 and rocks as a tepid power metal/middle of the road metal album that occasionally has the ability to pump its fists hard. Not sure about the band name, but I used to listen to this rocker quite a lot and it's become a bit of a cult platter, serving up a menu of chugging riffs and beefy vocals that I can't really dislike due to their sincerity. In a sense this is a few years ahead of its time and for me sits nicely alongside the thrashier Meliah Rage, so put an hour or so by and give it a spin. 6/10