Circa Survival

I'll start out by saying I've been an Anthony Green fan since the very first time I heard the Saosin Translating the Name EP through a friend of theirs. His voice is signature, a soaring wail that cuts through the accompanying music like a blade. He left Saosin (who replaced him with a guy that sounds almost exactly the same, but not quite as good) to form Circa Survive, who ultimately developed into a much better band. Their new record just dropped and I've been trying to figure out if/how much I like it. There are definitely some standouts with fantastic dynamic elements (the riff to open "Living Together" rules, as does the melody). In fact, the first 5 tracks are consistently kick-you-in-the-face awesome, but after that I feel it takes a step back. The melodies get predictable, the guitar riffs less cutting, the songs themselves too similar. Anthony can definitely get in a groove where all his melody choices sound the same, to the band's detriment. Unfortunately, if this were a 9-10 song LP, it'd be a lot better. As it stands, at 12 songs, On Letting Go loses momentum in a wash of copycat songs in the latter stages. There are some moments of greatness scattered through the end, but too buried to save the entire second half of the album. All that being said, I'd still buy it for the first 5 songs. Which I did. So there.

Listen:
Living Together
The Greatest Lie
[from On Letting Go|buy]