CD REVIEW: CAPTURE THE CROWN – Reign Of Terror

Label: Artery Recordings

Release Date: August 5, 2014

Rating: 7.5/10

Reviewed by: Mike Hubbard

Australian metalcore band Capture The Crown has gone through a lot since the release of their debut full length, 2012’s ‘Til Death.  The band has been joined by bassist Maurice Morfaw, with former bassist Kris Sheeran moving over to guitar, along with the departure of Blake Ellis.  The band was also dropped by their original label.  A successful crowdfunding effort lead to the release of an EP in early 2014, followed shortly by the announcement that CTC was signed by Artery Recordings  The band will release their latest full length, ‘Reign Of Terror’ on August 5, 2014.

Line up and record label aren’t the only things that have change.  The sound and feel of Reign Of Terror is very different from ‘Til Death.  Some synth elements are still evident, but nowhere near the degree of previous work.  One thing that hasn’t changed is the vocal range possessed by front man Jeffrey Wellfare.  Another thing that hasn’t changed is the anger that is expressed through the instrumentals, lyrics, and unclean vocals.

Similar to their debut release, 2012’s ‘Til Death, Reign Of Terror opens with a short intro track, appropriately named ‘Reign Of Terror’.  It provides a prelude to the assault we are about to experience.  The second track, ‘Red Light District’, makes it clear from the beginning that there is a lot of anger being expressed in this release.  The intense screamed vocals are contrasted with a clean vocal chorus “I just can’t do this without you, I felt alive when I found you, I hope you know this song is about you running away”, giving us a hint at the cause of the anger.  The track is also punctuated with a brutal breakdown, providing a formula for several of the songs on the disc.  The next track, ‘Smirk’, follows a similar template, screamed verse, clean chorus, breakdown.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  ‘To Whom it May Concern’ the second single off the release, may be my favorite track.  The vocals bleed extreme venom towards whomever this is addressed; vocalist Wellfare was apparently hurt very badly emotionally by someone to inspire such venom.  That emotion continues with the next track, subtlety titled ‘I Hate You’, repeating the line “Living the lie you call a life, FAKE!”  The sixth track, ‘Oxy Sunrise’, follows a similar pattern to ‘Smirk’ with nothing too remarkable about it.  The band starts to mix things up a bit with the last four tracks.  ‘Beating the Blade’ features clean vocals throughout most of the song, with a rap-like bridge section that is an interesting change of pace. In ‘Firestarter’ the heaviness/anger returns.  You get a mix of everything with the ninth track ‘Make War, Not Love’, from the synth opening, to the thunderous breakdown, to a near-blackmetal squeal, but with mostly clean vocals overall.  The last track provides a stark contrast to the rest of the disc.  ‘Janina’ is an acoustic ballad with all clean vocals, certainly not what you’d expect from CTC.

Clocking in at a mere 30 minutes, the 10 song disc is a quick listen.  In the album’s promotional material Wellfare is quoted as saying “This album isn’t recycled or anything you’ve heard before. This album represents an end of a dark period in my life, and is therefore pure emotion translated through music.”  Given that background, I’d have to say that his emotions were all over the place, but with a strong leaning towards anger.  I tend to be an anachronism in that I like to listen to albums from front to back rather than individual songs, and in that context I did not feel like the ten songs fit together as a single unit.  There are some great moments, but the consistency isn’t there for me to give it high grades overall.

‘Reign Of Terror’ is definitely a good listen for those looking for some anger-laced metalcore, especially for people who liked their debut release but were turned off by some of the synth over-use.  With a bit more refinement it could have been great.

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Category: CD Reviews