Review: Circa Survive – Violent Waves

Rated:

4/5

Prog-punk pioneers Circa Survive are nothing if not ambitious and the band’s fourth album sees them further stepping away from their Warped Tour roots to craft a disc that’s teeming with emotion without falling on emo clichés. Frontman Anthony Green’s distinctive falsetto dances on top of everything from Minus The Bear-esque grooves (“The Lottery”) to spacey ballads (“Brother Song”) and psychedelic sing-alongs (“Phantasmagoria”) with equal passion while the inventive instrumentation—which sees the band bookending the disc with sprawling, seven-minute-long songs—proves punk rock and guitar solos don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Hell, they can sound pretty good together. JONAH BAYER

Check out “The Lottery” off Violent Waves below: