The Cab started as a high-school band in the early aughts who have five EPs and three studio albums under their belt. Over the course of their career, the band garnered a massive fanbase and their second studio album, “Symphony Soldier,” peaking at #62 on the Billboard Top 100 albums in 2011. Many listeners may know them best from “Angel with a Shotgun,” a song that cemented the band as a beloved part of online fandom culture in the 2010s. After 15 years, The Cab has come back with “Chasing Crowns,” an album that encompasses everything they’ve been up to since, emotionally and musically. Drawing inspiration from the Japanese philosophy of Kintsugi, the repairing of broken pottery with gold so the cracks become part of the story instead of something to hide, “Chasing Crowns” embraces growth through imperfection.
With an instantly recognizable pop-rock and alt pop sound, The Cab continues to create songs you can vibe along to and rock out to alike. Across 18 tracks, The Cab invokes catchy melodies, fun guitar licks, and drum lines that will bring you back to the alt-pop scene of the 2010s without feeling trapped there. This is joined by a relationship-heavy lyrical theme, emphasizing that success and status matter less than our impacts on people, while maintaining a distinct identity from their previous projects.
The opening track, “Ultima Ratio Regum,” welcomes us with an ambient noise prelude before jumping straight into the guitar-heavy lead single, “Locked and Loaded.” I love how much this song immediately threw me back into some of the nostalgia of their previous album, “Symphony Soldier,” while still playing around with the guitar riffs and synths that make it feel like a modern evolution of that era of the band. “Back From The Dead” keeps that momentum going, and though the lyrics point to a “Miss Guillotine,” the premise of the chorus is potentially more self-referential after fans spent years unsure of whether The Cab would be “Back From The Dead.”
The album then transitions into a more playful pop-heavy stretch with “Lost With You” and “ih8yourgutz.” Both tracks ride infectious chorus and post-chorus hooks, using repeated vocal lines and bright instrumentals that make them instantly memorable. The usage of classic, choral 'oh's and 'yeah's made these songs a fun back-to-back run for me.
“Sweet Kerosene” slows the pace slightly without fully becoming a ballad, and I loved the way the vocals and guitar glide together throughout the track. That smoother energy creates a natural bridge into “Every Little Lie,” which opens with one of the most unique intros on the album yet: a distorted choir vocal and dissonant piano that quickly moves into pop rock. I especially liked how the opening chorus swaps that piano underneath for guitar instrumentation later on, though I would have loved hearing the piano return for more than just the bridge because it gave the track such a distinct atmosphere.
The middle portion of the album is where “Chasing Crowns” starts leaning its hardest into its own musical experimentation while still maintaining cohesion. I absolutely adored the instrumental of “Ruin Me” and the way the vocals are constantly moving up and down and changing the cadence. The bass really drives the movement of this track, and it makes it stand out among the songs.
That instability eventually gives way to the emotional ballad “Every Universe” (AKA: the ballad I was waiting to hear), and it is everything you would expect of a song with that title. You feel the ‘universal’ scale of the song despite its simple composition, assisted by the loving weight of the lyrics. The short “Interlude” is the perfect reset between the breakdown of “Every Universe” and the digital beats and haunting vocals of “Pain.” "Pain" is one of my favorites of the album due to the darker, heavier sound the song embraces.
From there, the album pivots back toward its more classic pop-rock roots while still carrying the emotional themes established earlier. In “Wasted,” the guitar picks are a great rhythm to follow, especially as it leads into and out of the guitar solo of the bridge. A great follow-up to something a little different from them, “Heart In a Blender” carries the classic instrumental and vocal tone of pop rock. The track embraces the kind of sound longtime fans will immediately recognize from The Cab’s earlier work.
The moment it comes in, “Rollercoaster” immediately commits itself to being an earworm. It is incredibly catchy and plays with repetition: “do ya, do ya, do ya, do ya, do ya, do ya” and “roller, roller, roller, roller, rollercoaster” have been stuck in my head ever since my first listen. This catchiness is helped immensely by the equally addictive instrumental backing underneath them.
“Fuck It” continues the warmer, more emotionally open sound introduced in “Sweet Kerosene,” from the first half of the album, acting as another upbeat ballad before the album’s final stretch. This transitional song works especially well because the closing tracks gradually become more reflective, reinforcing the album’s larger message about growth and emotional connection over status or success. Picking up the pace, “Stay This Way Forever” is a track that really works with the belting power of the vocals and a constant instrumental push that mimics the longing of the lyrics.
To close out the emotional core of the album and round out the ballads, “Hellraiser” strips back to a guitar-focused instrumental compared to the piano-driven one of “Every Universe” from earlier in the album. Written for frontman Alex DeLeon’s daughter, the song carries an especially personal emotional weight that makes its softer approach hit even harder. The vulnerability throughout the lyrics ties directly back into the album’s Kintsugi-inspired themes of growth, healing, and cherishing the people who matter most. After that emotional high point, “Tears in Reverse,” closes out the project perfectly. The entire song has an optimistic tone to it that felt cathartic after the emotional intensity of the previous 17 tracks, allowing me to exhale a breath I felt like I was holding in for a while.
All in all, “Chasing Crowns” is a great comeback for The Cab. The album balances the nostalgic pop-rock sound longtime listeners fell in love with while also reflecting the growth, distance, and experiences the band accumulated during their years away. Like the Kintsugi philosophy and overarching themes that inspired the record, “Chasing Crowns” doesn’t try to hide the passage of time, it embraces it.
I know this album will be entering my regular rotation for the next several months, and I hope it enters yours as well.
The band will be kicking off their national United States tour in late May. Check out our interview with The Cab here and listen to the full album here.
