Captain Roselyn are a Chaotic Hardcore band hailing from
Denmark, and although they are most easily labeled as a Chaotic Hardcore band
it’s hard not to bring up their other influences. There’s a heavy impact from
the likes of Melodic Death Metal, and modern Metalcore/hardcore like Zao, Norma
Jean, and Oh, Sleeper. The band isn’t afraid of their inspirations, and make
good note of where those bands succeed and blend those into their sound. However
Captain Roselyn doesn’t sound like a mash of copycat sounds. They blend
everything together with a heap of their own presence. They take the darker
brooding atmospheres of Zao, mix it with the more chaotic tones of Norma Jean
and Oh, Sleeper and throw in a spice of what I feel is pretty much a combo of
doom metal and hardcore.
I love the vocals on this album, they are pretty unique in
that they aren’t a typical scream/guttural/growl, it’s a very gurgled sound but
not in the same way slam metal vocals are done.
The best way I can describe it is if Randy Blythe of Lamb Of God and Dan
Weyandt of Zao were two halves of the same person. That may not be the best
description, but you really just need to listen to it. Captain Roselyn is a Christian
band, and while that is clear from the lyrics, it’s not borderline preachy like
how For Today’s lyrics are. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it’s
just that For today’s lyrics can get pretty cheesy at times and occasionally
feel a little stereotypical as far as Christian lyrics go. I find it’s better,
and often more poetic, when bands interlace the Christian themes into their
lyrics via metaphors and such.
The album opens with the sound of a plane flying over and,
to use a bad pun, it drops a bomb of chunky riffs on us. While the riffs are
great, I do feel like the opening of the album is a bit slow, especially in comparison
to the rest of the album. If the album opener had been a more explosive track
that might have made the plane sound cooler. Something more in the vein of ‘Iron
Sharpens Iron’, or the title track. Speaking of the title track, it’s a
fantastic song, but I think this track may be one of the only times where the
band may pay a bit too much of an homage to their influences. This track really
feels like something that could have been a bonus track on an earlier Norma
Jean record.
This album was self-produced, and while it’s definitely not
perfect sounding, generally everything comes across clean, nothing really gets drowned
out, and the rhythm/lead guitars work well together in the mix. There’s some
small things though that I felt could use a boost, for instance on ‘Iron
Sharpens Iron’ there is a small trumpet, or other brass instrument, giving a performance
in the background, but it took me a few listens of the album to actual notice
it. If it were a bit more present in the mix I think it’s presence would have
been more appreciated.
I’ve realized by this point that a lot of what I’ve said has
been critical, but I hope it’s clear that I’m not bashing the album. It’s a well-made
EP,I enjoyed every song there in, and this band certainly shows a lot of
promise, there’s just a few things I felt could have been done to make this
album even better.
If you’re a fan of any of the bands I mentioned in the first
paragraph, or are interested in hearing more chaotic hardcore goodness, do
yourself a favor and check these guys out. At the price of free, you really
have no reason not to!
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