With this 4-song EP, Circa Survive gives us a nice glimpse at what is in store when they release their first full-length Juturna on April 19th. Featuring members of defunct legends This Day Forward and Saosin, Circa Survive provide an intense, masterful distraction from the headbanging and the clichéd mosh. Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing I like more than a pulverizing breakdown.

This is a nice break from the kinetic frenzy that is hardcore punk rock, though. The music ebbs and flows naturally, often experimenting with thoughtful, dreamy indie hard rock with powerful post-hardcore crecendos. The guitars and bass weave in and out with the vocals and drums creating emotional songs that will fill the listener with introspective thought. Oh, there's some heavy riffage here that you'll find yourself bobbing your head to no doubt...and the references to emotional post-hardcore are quite obvious, but these songs are mainly slow to mid tempo dreamscapes capable of lifting you off your feet to a place far from the violence that plagues hardcore today. Every now and again they'll sneak in a little, subtle breakdown that gets the heart pumping.

Aside from the drumming and the stringed backbone, it's the vocals that truly stand out here. Anthony Green (ex-Saosin singer) has a voice unlike anything you have heard before. His soaring vocals remind me of a cross between the melodic crooning and yelling of At The Drive-In's Cedric Bixler and a tripped out Jane's Addiction's Perry Farrell. There are times when you don't know if an adult male is singing or an 11-year-old girl...and it sounds amazing.

This will, of course, get labelled as emo by the masses, but make no mistake about it, this rocks in a big way. Post-emo, post-hardcore, Post-cereal. You can call it whatever you want. All 4 songs are different enough to make you want to hear more. This is a huge breath of fresh air at a time where repetitiveness reigns supreme. Circa Survive are for real and as far as I'm concerned, April 19th can't come soon enough.