Capsize
The Angst In My Veins

When you listen to a hardcore album, a terribly bad sign, much like Dante's Beasts, is when you start looking at your watch and say: "well, we're only on the fifth track? Are you kidding?" In a music scene that thrives on frenzy and voracious moments, that's really not the best compliment you can give to a record release. This is not the case with "The Angst In My Veins" by the Californians (where else?) Capsize. So, dear ZeroKanada, why start a review in this way? Because for once, I won’t be writing about something that struck me at first glance or about albums that I consider essential in my personal and debatable musical vision. These Capsize are not entirely new to my ears to be honest. I’ve come across them several times during my casual journey filled with endless bus ride conversations. I’ve heard them mentioned in passing. You know, I’m referring to that background hum you listen to absentmindedly at concerts. Or also, to be clear, I must thank the advertising and indexing work of Facebook, which works wonders, promptly suggesting I like their official page. Especially, the straw that broke the camel's back, is that having lived for months in California, I managed to form a small circle of concert-goer friends here too and, as I wrote a few lines above, they are Californian, so the hype when you announce to the whole world that you also listen to melodic hardcore means that the name Capsize pops up nonchalantly. "Well, you have to listen to them, come on, if you like Modern Life Is War, I mean, they are a bit more recent (ouch - personal note)". Well, what can you do, let's give them a chance.

My first impression is that these guys from San Diego have done their homework. Not only have they studied well that now historic melodic hardcore school of Have Heart, Killing The Dream, or Carpathian, but they have also taken note of newer acts like Defeater. The Capsize then stubbornly managed to create a solid image and reputation in the local underground scene. They should be given credit for this, without a shadow of a doubt, especially from a visual perspective. In short, you look at the artwork of this debut and immediately you think: "well, these will be the usual ones down on life, relationships, existence" with that romantic/naive touch that really appeals particularly to the younger crowd. Everything is set up. Capsize, continuing to study them from this angle, seem not to miss a single bullet. They are also on a great record label to be riding high, Equal Vision, which has produced masterpieces in the past. Read: "Jane Doe". The Californians' castle seems to have solid foundations, and so, I tell myself, I was naive to continuously ignore the listen because with such background you can't fail. So I dive into listening to "The Angst In My Veins", and after the half-hour of outbursts that Capsize propose, I find myself with the perplexed gaze with which Giovanni Drogo looked beyond the horizon of the Bastiani Fortress. I don't exactly know what the feeling is, but it's as if, by continually overturning (yes, I needed to make the pun on the band's moniker) and shuffling the cards on the table, our guys don't know exactly where to aim. Or rather, Capsize know the stylistic coordinates very well, but sometimes they are indistinctly aggressive and/or passionate. In simple terms, more than once, the musical solutions overflow into derivative shores, making the platter lose its bite.

I imagine them there in the writing room, for heaven's sake. Indecisive whether to push the accelerator on introspection or rather end up being angularly desperate. The proposal of Capsize is subject to crossroads that seem endless. To touch more metallicized structures closer to names like Counterparts or not abandon more chaotically punk roots of the new school, something also suggested by the appearances of former Defeater Jay Maas and the singer of the Swedes No Omega. And so on. You know that saying about having one foot in two shoes? Here it is, that's the metaphor for Capsize. At the end of the ten tracks, the opinion I have formed is that they haven't even found a real answer to these bifurcations, and in this, it is noticeable that we are facing a debut on a large scale. However, don't misunderstand me. By nature, I am not a cosmic pessimist like Leopardi and I also see brighter aspects. Indeed, it must be said that "The Angst In My Veins" flows as smoothly as Ponti balsamic vinegar and has its more than enjoyable moments, between rhythms cleverly broken by breakdowns and, without falling into excessive repetitiveness, melancholic glimpses. There is enough material to be engaging. Exploits like "Numb" please me quite a bit too, only consistency and a turning point to make Capsize less linear and more personal are missing. The only word... oh, speaking of words, lyrically the Californians are not even bad, quite the opposite. Anyway, as we were saying, the only word they need to banish is cliché. Specifically, I receive news that in 2016 a new full length will probably be released, and here, curiosity will win over me, because despite everything, they are to be watched and, they might, bring satisfaction. In the meantime, however, I need to write a message to my friend and tell her: "Bravo, sweet and all these Capsize, eh, for heaven’s sake, but for now I'm putting Witness back on."