Review || Circa Survive - "The Amulet"

Every record review is a constant reminder and an ongoing example of subjectivity. That being said, every opinion on the matter is useful. Circa Survive released "The Amulet" via Hopeless Records on September 14th of 2017 and this is my first encounter with the very popular, as it turns out, indie progressive rock band hailing from the suburbs of Philadelphia. Circa Survive came to be when members of Saosin and This Day Forward combined musical aesthetic and talent back in 2004. From then on, the trail has been impressively upward for the most part, them having released six LP’s, having joined several impressive labels (yes, even Atlantic) and having toured extensively and on a pretty massive scale with some terrific bands (Thrice, My Chemical Romance, Architects, Citizen, Turnover, MeWithoutYou, to name a few). The name of the band had circled my radar but I’d never listened to a single thing from their catalog. 

When a review of The Amulet was kindly suggested, I went online and the first thing I witnessed was Circa Survive’s video for "Lustration", which is the opening track to the record. “Oh, this isn’t my cup of tea”, I thought. Then I played "The Amulet" over and over until I had a solid “rookie” opinion on it.
Generally speaking I don’t like long songs and records, I don’t especially enjoy that much of an atmosphere to what I listen to and progressive music takes me to uninteresting places. "The Amulet" is all those things combined and many more as well.
I still can’t get it over my head that the vocals aren’t those of a female singer. Anthony Green’s singing is a one of a kind thing and that alone is impressive. The band obviously takes immaculate care of everything that goes into making a record; songwriting is clearly stripped down to the last detail, producers and engineers are carefully chosen (Will Yip in this case!), high quality promotional video clips shot and the list could go on and on. I’m pretty sure that the band is perfect at their live performance as well and I totally respect the bands that join their tours or vice versa. If I had to choose between songs that stood out for me from "The Amulet", I would mention "Lustration", "Rites Of Investiture" and the title track itself.

From what I’ve gathered people are considering "The Amulet" as Circa Survive’s best work in a while so, while I personally haven’t become a huge fan, in essence I’m glad I was introduced to the band and am grateful to broaden my musical knowledge.
6/10

Share on Google Plus

0 σχόλια :

Post a Comment