Review Summary: Honing in on their best attributes, Capture the Crown has released an energetic and infectiously catchy EP
Capture the Crown has quite the story. Originally being called “Atlanta Take State”, the band brought in Jeffery Wellfare from “Curse at 27” and migrated to America to sell their music. Their popularity almost instantaneously took off with their video for “You Call That a Knife? This Is a Knife!” They were later signed and dropped from Sumerian Records within the same year. With “Live Life”, Capture the Crown is back on track by focusing on their best aspects; the vocals and the electronic work.
Right off the bat with the title track we notice an immediate improvement; the catchy riff is clearly pronounced and the guitar tone is nowhere near as overbearing as on their debut album. Jeffery’s vocals have improved greatly, as he’s improved his range. His gutturals and occasional pig squeals have far more impact than they did previously; he’s even taken cues from Attila, utilizing a style of speed screaming on the title track and “Bloodsuckers.” His high screams are still unfortunately underwhelming though. The clean vocals have become the star of the show, as they are far less produced and Jeffery shows off his range to much greater effect. The album’s choruses soar thanks to his strong and appealing vocal inflection, leading to an undeniably catchy performance. “When I Get Home” is easily the best track on here and is entirely composed of clean vocals, with even a few falsetto portions being utilized. The lyricism is varied and while the topics can be generic, the way they’re written is entertaining and fresh. The entertaining imagery on the title track such as “if the world is your oyster then I’ll do all I can to drain the fucking ocean and leave you high and dry in the sand” is much better than the typical "fuck you” anthem that seems to permeate throughout modern Post-Hardcore.
The instrumentals still have a good portion of the chugga-chugga that we’re all used to, but now the riffs and electronics have been put at the forefront of the mix. This isn’t to say there aren’t some catchy instrumental moments however, the guitars tend to lay down some catchy riffs or well placed breakdowns throughout the EP. The bass mostly follows along with the guitar and never ventures on its own however, which isn’t really disappointing but a pronounced bass line here or there would have been nice. The drums contribute some catchy fill work and help to speed up the pacing of each of the songs. The trance influence in the electronics is all but gone and they’ve been replaced with more straight-forward house inspired beats and bloops. They all work together to form a coherent and enjoyable experience.
In short, Capture the Crown’s EP is a solid improvement over their debut album with a few downsides, (All Hype All Night.) Hopefully with their upcoming second album they further capitalize on their strengths and vary up their songwriting just a little bit more; if they can do that, then they’ll be well on their way to writing an album that’s not just catchy and fun, but technically complex as well.
