Circa Survive - The Amulet (September 22, 2017) Album • Page 89

Harsh lol. For what it’s worth I would echo this:

 

maybe we agree on more than it seems, your friend is back

 

Fever dreams
Get out
Dyed in the wool
Longest mile
Glass arrows
Strange terrain
Frozen creek
Stairwell
Imaginary enemy
I felt free
Through the desert
Compendium

Much more varied, but less close in rank. The top three here tho I'd put really high in terms of their whole discography, then there's a bit of a gap. Still a great album and it sounds so good.

 

Holy shit this Grey & Avril song.... wtf?!?!? hahahaha

 

Get Out
Fever Dreams
I Felt Free
The Longest Mile
Frozen Creek
Spirit of the Stairwell
Dyed in the Wool
Glass Arrows
Imaginary Enemy
Strange Terrain
Through the Desert Alone

 

Juturna

As of right now this is probably my 3rd favorite Circa album. I think I've mentioned this before, but I always kind of underrate this album in my head. I'm not entirely sure why that is. For one thing, Stop The Fucking Car is a serious contender for the best Circa Survive song. It is an absolute powerhouse and pretty easily one of my favorite songs of all time. The drumming alone is enough to cement its status as legendary in the CS canon.

From there, songs like Holding Someone's Hair..., Act Appalled, and In Fear and Faith are classic Circa songs and some of the most fun to sing along to in their catalog. Then some of the deeper cuts like Wish Resign, Golden Baby, We're All Thieves, and even Oh, Hello, are really great songs that always hit me hard when I'm listening to them. The album definitely sounds like a young band figuring out how to execute their vision, but I've never thought it sounded immature or undeveloped. This album laid the groundwork very well for what was to come with the band.

I think what ultimately prevents it from being my favorite CS album is the fact that I don't have as strong of an emotional connection to it that I do with OLG and BSN. That's just one of those things in music that is really difficult to put into words; there isn't really a reason for it, but it's the way it is. I also have never loved the two closing tracks (I don't consider HOL to be the closing track since it's technically a hidden track/bonus track), and I think Anthony's voice is more refined going forward on OLG and beyond.

That all being said, Juturna still holds a place in my top 50 albums list, if I were to make one. It is a truly admirable debut and a great album to introduce the prowess of the band to the world. Where a lot of debut albums show an artist trying to determine who they want to be, Circa seemingly always had a clear vision, and I really respect that.

 

your write ups make mine look like chicken scratch haha. enjoyed this and agreed with a lot of what you said.

 

Juturna and On Letting Go sound like a band that are masters at doing something only they know how to do. It doesn't sound like a band searching or figuring out anything. Those albums have more of a vision and maturity than anything that would follow.

 

Yeah say what you will about Juturna, somehow it sounds pretty sure of itself despite no shows being played beforehand haha. And the whole thing about the guitarists not hearing the others parts is mind boggling.

 

I might quibble that OLG is a slightly more refined expression of the same sound, but basically this.

And that's why I get irritated when people say BSN is the best, or "Flesh and Bone" is the highlight of the new record, even though I shouldn't. All that material may be really good, but it isn't uniquely Circa - at least, not to nearly the same extent. Jut+OLG represent an exhaustive exploration of this unique, awesome niche these guys carved out in rock music. Since then, their records have become more schizophrenic, and that's meant a fair number of songs that don't stand out from the crowd quite as much.

When Anthony sings a straightforward vocal melody over a 3-4 chord ballad like F&B, I can appreciate its place on the record... but I'm also thinking various other bands could do it roughly just as well (minus AG's vox).

 

Back from lunch, onto VW. Easily my least favorite cover art, but I think I'm under rating this album. The first song is solid, I'm just less a fan of this heavier sound they really transition to starting with this album.

 

Juturna is still the best

 

Yea I think at this point juturna and OLG are the sonic outliers in their discog. Those albums make me feel like my head is spinning and the guitars are all over the place and it’s euophoric. I like the other albums, especially amulet and bsn, but for what I want out of this style of music they’re too tame to compete with the first two.

 

Ok VW rank:

Bird Sounds
Suitcase
Sharon practice
phantasmagoria
I'll Find a Way
Birth of the economic hitmen
The lottery
Think of me when they sound
Blood from a stone
My only friend
Brother song

Probably my least favorite, the tone is so much darker, and it's lacking songs I LOVE, the top seven here are all very solid and close in rank but don't blow me away at all, and the bottom four are some of the most forgettable of their catalog. I don't think I'll ever be at a show where someone is hoping they bust out My Only Friend or Brother Song. That said still a good album, one of them has to be least the favorite.

 

I'll Find a Way is probably one of my fav Circa tracks

 

No way! I enjoy reading your thoughts.

 

I knew some people wouldn't be happy with aspects of my post, haha. And that's alright. Juturna was also the 4th Circa album I heard, which may play a role in why I feel the way I do about it.

 

Agree with VW being consistently good but perhaps having the least enthralling high points in the catalog.

Blood from a Stone
The Lottery
Birth of the Economic Hit Man
My Only Friend
Bird Sounds
Think of Me When They Sound
Sharp Practice
Phantasmagoria
I'll Find a Way
Suitcase
Brother Song

 

listening to descensus now, so might as well do this:

sovereign circle
descensus
child of the desert
quiet down
schema
only the sun
nesting dolls
always begin
phantom
who will lie with me now

 

Ranking the songs on each album will be too hard and will just make me angry

 

i'm sick so i fell asleep during BSN but now that i've had food im going back at it to give it a fair listen

 

Descensus rank:

Always Begin
phantom
Quiet down
Only the sun
Schema
Sovereign circle
Nesting dolls
Child of the desert
Descensus
Who will lie with me now

Again, it's a solid album but no huge tracks that I love. The top three here I like, but they'd be middle of the pack on the other albums, nothing here is that exciting but it's not bad either. I like this a little more than VW, but they seem like similar executions of the same energy.

 

I dislike both of this bands desert songs. Anthony GREEN should stay out of those beige sandy deserts and get in that hot green jungle!

 

I, for one, love when Anthony sings about deserts.

 

Starting the Amulet and I think I like Lustration more than anything on VW or Descensus and it's not even my favorite on this album