Review Summary: A progressive rock influenced album; very much in the vein of Porcupine Tree/Anathema. The vocals and composition wear thin at parts, but overall a very decent album.
I had only heard of Circa Survive via one of my favorite record stores, located in Doylestown, PA. They plaster the band’s posters all over the place; it’s hard not to notice them. I later found out that Circa Survive is based out of Philadelphia, and Siren Records (the store) loves promoting homegrown glory. Though some of my favorite indie artists are Philadelphia based, I had never given this band a listen for whatever reason.
I was recently told to review their latest album, “Violent Waves”, by a friend. He thought that I might have a fresh perspective on it, considering the fact that I’ve never listened to Circa Survive. I went into the album expecting a mix of indie and emo, with maybe a little more heaviness. Instead, I found the album more inspired by modern progressive rock than anything else. Perhaps this was a slight change of style for the band. Following the prog rock direction is usually pretty cool, but it does come with some baggage. One of the biggest put-offs of modern prog rock for me is the production. The music can be so over-produced that it’s pretty much to a fault; this is especially true for the more recent albums of other prog bands such as Dream Theater and Anathema.
Regardless of the immediate put-off of the precise production of “Violent Waves”, I did try to ignore that and focus on other elements such as songwriting and instrumentation. The album begins with “Birth of the Economic Hitman” and “Sharp Practice”, which was a bit of an underwhelming start for me. Though the lyrics are pretty interesting and clever, I found the music itself to be a bit boring. One element that I did like was some of the screaming in “Sharp Practice”. Vocalist Anthony Green’s voice is very high and distinct, but some of the screeches in this song sit very comfortably with me; they felt reminiscent of maudlin of the Well screams.
The following two songs are among my favorites. “Suitcase” and “The Lottery” have some interesting things going on musically, while the vocals avoid sounding intrusive. The lyrics cradle the music rather than cut through it; this was done pretty well on these two tracks. “Suitcase” is the first time something really catchy happens, with the “then you realize…” lyric. “Lottery” also has a catchy chorus, plus, the guest vocalist compliments Green’s singing.
Unfortunately, there isn’t anything really memorable about the rest of the first side. “Think of Me When They Sound” is a nice change of pace, with a much more somber mood and a very isolated guitar part that makes the listener feel pretty close (unlike the rest of the album, where the extensive production pushes the listener farther away from the music). One interesting thing that I wanted to make sure that I brought up was that in songs 5-8 (“My Only Friend”, “Phantasmagoria”, “Think of Me When They Sound”, and “Brother Song”), there’s a common theme of the song ending with a guitar interlude. In these four songs, a small and somewhat unrelated guitar melody is quietly playing as it’s fading away. I’m not sure if this was an intentional element or not, but I think the inclusion of it makes the album a little bit more intriguing. The one at the end of “Think of Me When They Sound” is very Opethy, and Segway’s perfectly into “Brother Song”, which I like. It reminds me of Porcupine Tree, and maybe a little of Mars Volta too (the vocals do sound a little like theirs).
Personally, I find the rest of the album a bit boring (save the closer). Anthony Green’s vocals often wear thin for me. It’s only at certain tracks when I feel that it really works (Suitcase, The Lottery, Brother Song, etc.). The closer, “I’ll Find A Way”, starts off with a pretty interesting guitar part, and the vocals are pretty fitting in this track. It even ends with some ambience and soft guitars. I think it’s a very strong closer, especially considering how dull some of the earlier parts of the LP were.
All in all, I’m glad that I listened to “Violent Waves”. Having had a huge progressive rock phase in recent years, it’s nice to see a current band trying to bridge the prog rock genre to indie. I’ll probably listen to this album again when I eventually fall into another Mars Volta/Anathema/Porcupine Tree phase, which will undoubtedly happen soon. This LP does have its flaws; a lot of the focus is often placed on the instrumentation, leaving some things to be desired vocally, such as catchier melodies and lyrics. Then again, the lyrics are very prog rock-esque in nature, so Circa may not have aimed to release a “catchy” album, but rather, a musically challenging one. If that was the case, there were still some songwriting-related issues that I noticed. One of them is that I found it hard to pick some of the weaker songs apart from each other; a lot of these are just victims of boring songwriting. But there are still some high points to “Violent Waves”. It isn’t a simple album, that’s for sure. While a lot of the composition isn’t too crazy, there are a lot of layered guitars and vocals, and complex lyrics. At the very least, this is music that you can really listen to and learn new things from (such as patterns, like the one I mentioned earlier, as well as themes). Any fan of modern progressive rock should check out this album for sure. Perhaps it isn’t their most memorable, but that certainly doesn’t make it meaningless. Like I said earlier, I’ve never listened to Circa Survive before this LP, but I feel that it was a strong enough entry point for me, regardless of its flaws.
Fav- Suitcase, The Lottery, I’ll Find A Way
Least Fav- My Only Friend, Phantasmagoria
6.5/10
