Review Summary: Buckets of promise, but no payoff just yet.
Melodic hardcore as a genre depends on a couple of things to be effective. It needs an urgent delivery full of immediacy to carry the album, due to the trademark emotional heaviness usually found with the sound. It also needs a sense of relatability in the lyrical storytelling. Melodic hardcore giants like Defeater proved that true when their impassioned tales resonated with fans. Newcomers Capsize succeed in the former category, but fall just a bit short in the latter which holds their sophomore record back from being more than just another promising outing from an up and coming band. Regardless,
The Angst In My Veins is a melodic hardcore album that’s sure to please fans of the genre.
As a whole, Capsize turned up with a very Counterparts esque sound on their second outing. The melodies tend to bury themselves in with the dissonant riffing, in a marriage of sounds that really ought to clash…..yet they never do, to Capsize’s benefit. The split between heaviness and melody is nicely even as well, and the breakdowns that plague some of the more metalcore influenced melodic hardcore of today (For The Fallen Dreams, The Ghost Inside) are fairly toned down. On first listen the songs tend to run together, making for a less than memorable experience. Over repeated listens, parts do start to stand out, but even then it’s clear that the album functions better as a whole. While the dirty snarl of a vocal performance prevalent throughout the album is both entertaining and emotionally gripping, the lyrics fail to reach past the stereotype of “mopey, self-absorbed diary entries”. The words may lack relatable resonation, but luckily the music pushes forward some of the passion that would otherwise be missing.
Capsize impress with a fun, interesting, and well performed debut full of energy, if lacking in anything innovative. With some more attention addressed to memorability, and some more varied lyrics, this melodic hardcore outfit could really do something with their third release.
