ALBUM REVIEW: Anthony Green, “Beautiful Things”
Album Review
Anthony Green – “Beautiful Things” (2012, Photo Finish)
Reviewer: Tony Paese
What is so great about the Circa Survive project is their style is so much more conducive to Anthony Green’s fantastically unique voice. He is able to just wail away at the top of his lungs in front of a wall of really intimidating guitars and create some great emo classics such as 2005’s “Act Appalled”, a favorite of mine from my high school days. Unfortunately, when Green tries to do it solo, his voice suddenly seems strange and out of place.
Green’s second full-length solo album, “Beautiful Things”, is pretty much like his first. I kept thinking the same thing – Man,that voice would have so much potential if he just used it the right way. The tracks are utterly unimaginative. Quieted-down songs with Circa-esque lyrics and some instruments that seem mismatched when put together in the same song, I get the impression that these are all just B-sides to an album from any of Green’s past musical projects.
The stronger tracks on the record are essentially Circa Survive imitations. In “Get Yours While You Can” and “Can’t Have It All At Once” you step into a world entirely separate from the rest of the record. “Get Yours While You Can” features some skyrocketing guitar licks and a loud, catchy chorus, while “Can’t Have It All At Once” hits you with some fast, aggressive drumming and a wall of very Circa-esque guitars. But the key is that Green returns to the screeching, high-pitched wail that had made his previous projects so sonically inviting.
I understand many artists’ desire to slow things down and create music that doesn’t fit their band’s particular niche, but in this case, I think Green should stick with the harder emo stuff, because “Beautiful Things” is an entirely forgettable album.
