ALBUM REVIEW: Separate – Capstan

CAPSTAN‘s comfort in picking at their own emotive scabs on sophomore record Separate is admirable. The Floridians make quick work of convincing you their second chapter is less about hope, and more about acclimatising to the pitfalls in romanticism. Written primarily about guitarist Joe Mabry‘s emotionally challenging time throughout the pandemic: despite its barrage of hooks; this is a purposefully confrontational listen.

That idea of friction presents itself immediately. Album opener pretext tackles the disparity of affection in relationships head on. Anthony DeMario‘s vocal crawl of “You gave me all you had but I kept looking back” sits atop a thick metalcore riff, and the punches keep rolling from there on out.

To their credit, the five piece have always been a diverse outfit. Separate‘s predecessor Restless Heart, Keep Running was a fine tuned amalgam of TINY MOVING PARTS, THE STORY SO FAR, TOUCHE AMORE, and A DAY TO REMEMBER. CAPSTAN have retained their bold nature for writing here, too. Separate openly plays with synths, 80’s pop bass lines, and technical riff passages throughout its run. With the exception of the lackadaisical funk tones of take my breath away noose – the new flurry is executed well.

With that said, CAPSTAN are still undeniably at their most powerful when they play to their post-hardcore strengths. abandon is an immovable, authoritative expulsion of demons. DeMario‘s chest beating chorus chimes are given further emphasis by Scott Fisher‘s unforgiving snare drum attack. Its soaring anthem bleeds effortlessly into follower shattered glass, too. A track which takes the quintets ability to induce technical riffs into their emotive prowess and rams it down your throat.

Elsewhere, the record never quite hits the heights of Restless Heart, Keep Running – despite giving it a good run for its money. decline has spidery guitar lines that put your head in a spin, while if tongue-biter‘s breakdown was tuned any lower you’d find it in Marianas Trench. Whether this is peak CAPSTAN or not is somewhat irrelevant though, often Separate throws such a charm to its melody – you can’t escape its drawing power.

Perhaps CAPSTAN haven’t truly built on their lightning in a bottle moment, maybe Separate was never built to do so. Such is the bands confident expansion here – this record sits outside of any net the quintet have previously cast. When all is said and done, CAPSTAN didn’t just have the steel to push their boundaries, they did so without losing a shred of their credibility.

Rating: 7/10

Separate is set for release on July 23rd via Fearless Records. 

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