I was never an emo fan, not even when I was fifteen, but of course, there were some exceptions. The big one of course being one of the last great rock bands to achieve (or at least come close to achieving) major mainstream success: At The Drive-In. Another was the Anniversary, particularly this album.
I first heard of them, of course, in 2002 when all the "real" emo kids I knew were going to see the recently sold-out Dashboard Confessional for this opening act. Something was intriguing about that, I must say. Eventually, after grappling with all the stigma around the style I picked up this CD and was pretty amazed. Granted it has its emo clichés for sure and it could get old, but after all these years I find myself going back to it and appreciating it. Of course, what I liked about it was what got the group ousted from emo royalty for sounding too much like a sixties pop group. Fuck that.
The Lawrence, Kansas group gives its audience what it craves while showing off their expansive talent that goes beyond said parameters. The record starts off strong with the drum intro to "Sweet Marie" and delivers one of the albums best classic pop tunes, the other being "Never Die Young" (though I recall having a preferred more emo version during the Kazaa era). The more typically emo tracks are great too like "The Siren Sings" and "Devil on My Side". The epics are some of the weaker ones, though with "Husam Husam" the notable exception. The arrangements all sound good and tight - even with the occasional strong harmony, even when the vocals and lyrics can get eye-rolling. In effect, of all emo music I've heard this is probably the most listenable, coming from from a classic rock/pop background, that is.
This album is an AWESOME guilty pleasure and of course, the only thing I ever owned that Vagrant released. It is a real shame the band broke up in 2004 before releasing anything else, but I heard they were junkies so what do you expect...
The Anniversary - Your Majesty (2002)
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