ALBUM REVIEW: In Transmission – Capra

CAPRA really, really love hardcore. It was obvious when we spoke to their guitarist Tyler Harper for an upcoming feature, and it’s even more obvious when you listen to In Transmission. The debut full-length from the Louisiana-based four-piece is, in a word, a rager. On it, the band draw from the genre’s broad spectrum for 32 minutes of raucous riffs and righteous anger.

In Transmission probably has most in common with the high-octane metallic hardcore of a band like EVERY TIME I DIE, but you might not realise that at first. Things get off to quite a quiet start with the album’s opening track [Exordium]. This provides an atmospheric, slowly building intro that rolls straight into second track Hollow Doll. Even this doesn’t give too much of an indication of where things are going next. With frantic blast beats and expansive tremolo-picked leads, this one has more to do with the blackened hardcore of a band like SVALBARD if anything.

After this though, the record pretty much becomes riff city. Third track The Locust Preacher is chock full of them, providing a firm early highlight. It’s also one of several songs on the record that sees CAPRA take some pretty sharp left turns. That’s definitely intentional – one of Harper‘s stated desires is to be unpredictable in his song and riff-writing – and it definitely pays off here. The song also marks the start of a run of particularly strong tracks. Medusa, Torture Ship, Paper Tongues and Mutt which follow are all brilliantly unrelenting and bracing. Harper provides plenty more wild riffing on each, while the production lends all of them a raw and gritty feel. Mutt arguably shines most of all, firmly evoking another of CAPRA‘s obvious favourites in CONVERGE.

If anyone stands out in particular on In Transmission, it’s CAPRA’s vocalist Crow Lotus. In her own words, Lotus intends to “give a voice to the people who are often overlooked.” This fuels a consistently fiery and impassioned performance. Over the record’s 11 tracks, she tackles a wide range of subjects from the personal to the political. Perhaps her strongest showing comes on the album’s ninth track Red Guillotine, where she explores the trials and tribulations faced by women in their everyday lives. Unsurprisingly, she sounds absolutely furious here, with defiant lyrics like “We won’t be broken anymore/We know what we’re fighting for.”

A fair criticism some might level at In Transmission is that it more or less stays in fifth gear throughout. Relative quiet of the opener aside, there aren’t really any dips in intensity for the rest of the record’s runtime. Of course, there’s definitely something impressive about that. It’s also hardly as though the band outstay their welcome or lose their edge at any point. Instead, the record maintains a solid pace, with plenty going on at any given moment. Going forward, perhaps CAPRA could look for more dynamic variation, but it seems pointless to overly punish them for that when the quality is as high as it is here.

The album ends with the brilliant, and even more brilliantly titled, Samuraiah Carey. This one carries on the raging hardcore of its predecessors, but it’s also one of the record’s most expansive tracks. The blast beats return again here, in a way bringing things full circle back to the album’s first song proper. Once it’s over, listeners will surely have a hard time believing a full 32 minutes have passed. Hardcore is a crowded field at the moment, with plenty of great releases already from this year alone. Even so, CAPRA still sit pretty comfortably on the higher end of that spectrum, and, bearing in mind this is just their debut, the future looks incredibly bright.

Rating: 8/10

In Transmission is set for release on April 23rd via Backlight Media/Metal Blade Records.

Like CAPRA on Facebook.