Album Review: Anthony Raneri - New Cathedrals EP

In a sweet aside from Queens punk rockers Bayside, Anthony Raneri’s ‘New Cathedrals’ is a truly eloquently written EP with a light flavour that’s hard not to enjoy; a sense that’s inherited to your ears as first track ‘Sandra Partial’ explodes into a joyful romp of acoustic guitar and pop vocal melody, a song that remains simple yet effective for the entirety of its run time.

And it’s hard to deny the mixture of electric guitar and piano in ‘Charleston’ is effective, its many musical layers contributing to an extremely interesting array of soundscapes in a song that verges on experimental and jazzy but retains the flavors of punk and to a smaller extent ska, to a delightful degree, culminating in a powerful bridge that speaks to the power all solo projects shout exert to demonstrate the talent and the creativity of the individual.

Probably the standout track on the EP however, is ‘The Ballad of Bill the Saint’, a folk/punk hymn that showcases the cream of the crop in terms of Anthony Raneri’s song writing, combining the best elements of bands who have tried similar songs to create an acoustic juggernaut that reminds almost of Chris Cornell’s ‘You Know My Name’, and does little to shame that.

For those of you who are looking for something more in the Alkaline Trio vein of punk rock however, the brilliant ‘Lead, Follow, Fall’ is a raw but melodic punk rock romp with a Trio flavor dancing between the guitar riffs throughout.

'New Cathedrals' in itself is endless fun to listen to, it has a little bit of everything that an EP should have and the songs stand alone as giants just as well as they hold themselves proudly together.

4/5

'New Cathedrals' is out January 17th through Gumshoe Records.