I think I probably said something similar in the Boom. Done thread but as someone who always loved a handful of Circa tracks on each album but never fell hard for an entire project, I’m so happy and amazed that suddenly Anthony Green is just suddenly REALLY doing it for me. Maybe my own tastes have just changed and if I revisit Circa I’ll find even more to fall in love with than I did back in high school and college but it really does just seem like he’s also hitting some crazy late career stride. This album reminds me of all my favorite parts of CS without any of the eventual fatigue I’d get 3/4 of the way in.
L.S. Dunes: “We didn’t realise how much we needed this… | Kerrang! I'd say this interview clears up the 2022 removal mystery.
been only listening to this in the car until now on my super nice JBL studio monitors. fucking ten out of ten production on this thing. gnarliest bass tones since the amulet, pristine guitars and such a smooth drum sound as well. just muddy enough to have the post-hardcore dirt we all love but attention is paid to the mix so you can make out every element even during the chaotic parts. an extremely difficult act to balance, especially when you're deliberately pushing the vocals down into all that mess too instead of letting them sit on the top of the mix. its pulled off super well.
This album is so good so far. The best Anthony has sounded in forever, and I think it's because his voice is less prominent in the mix maybe? There's a raspy quality and distortion that blends in with the guitars better than on the later circa records. I'd blame it on the producer, but it's Will Yip again. Also controversial opinion, but I think that Will was a pretty bad thing for Circa as they treat him as basically the 6th member (and said as much in interviews), and since I don't like the newer stuff nearly as much as the old, I blame him lol. Grey Veins is an early favorite. I do like it takes time as well ^ Early spotify plays look good. May end up being pretty successful vs a fleeting lesser than the sum of it's parts side project. Too bad this tour isn't coming near me. Maybe they'll get some fest spots and I'll catch them there.
I agree with some of that post like how Anthony’s voice sits great in the mix but I also think the amulet is the best circa album
It's not that his voice ever sounds bad, it's just too prominent on that EP, but I always loved Circa for their guitar work just as much as Anthony's vocals so that's a hard one for me with it being more subdued and synth heavy with a lot of breathing room and space on the tracks. The EP started to grow on me, but now I'm back to being lukewarm on it and I don't know if and when I'll get the desire to go back to it. I ranked the albums in the Circa thread and agreed that the Amulet was a great return to form, but it's only my 3rd favorite. It definitely is an extremely enjoyable album that has everything that made me fall in love with Circa in the first place but I'm just too nostalgia heavy on that band. Objectively, it may feature some of their best songwriting, they're just not my favorite songs if that makes sense.
Nah, I'm right there with you on a decently steep dropoff from early Circa to mid-late Circa. There are still gems in the later eras, and I enjoy every release, but it just ain't the same. And while nostalgia plays a role, I think it's more than that. The Amulet was a return to their roots in style, but not necessarily substance. It's hard for me to believe the creative effort put into most of those tracks was comparable to Juturna/OLG, high a bar as that may be. This LP sits in the same realm as everything from BSN to Two Dreams for me: really good, enjoyable, but probably not a desert island disc.
Between the 2 Circa EPs, his solo album, and this- I’ve never liked Anthony more than right now! He’s on a hot streak
yeah lol i really think Anthony's run from Dream About Love to this is one of the best i've experienced as a music listener. insane diversity and quality control, plus the TSOAF EP still coming up. i'm blessed to be alive during this honestly
Respectfully, I could not disagree with this more, I don't know in what sense that album could be described as insubstantial. The songwriting is honed, they're pushing their boundaries throughout, the lyrics are some of Anthony's most powerful, imo. I could definitely hear an argument that Descensus is going through the motions, but The Amulet to me is an obvious course correction from that era of the band.
i would not be able to hear an argument about descensus being a “going through the motions” record, it is the wackiest circa record
Yeah if anything I think Violent Waves is the most “going through the motions” record from Circa. I find it to be their least interesting release overall