Capricorns

Capricorns belong to a new, burgeoning genre that's easy to love and easy to hate. Call it 'post-metal', call it 'Neurosis Rip-Off Music', call it anything you want, it's getting bigger and bigger, and it polarises many people. For every fan who sees it as a logical, cerebral extension of metal, there's some one who sees it as pretentious, boring crap designed to appeal to hipsters. Of course, there are some bands that are indeed pretentious and boring. However, Capricorns is not one of them. This is post-metal with relatively short songs, huge, catchy riffs, and a thoroughly enjoyable feel throughout this EP.

Indeed, if this was a bit less jammy and had some vocals, this would almost be a straight up heavy metal record. Everything is at a somewhat medium tempo- no slow doom dirges here- with some really big riffs that you'll find yourself humming, especially the really, really massive riff on the final track. These guys don't play that much mellow stuff, but when they do it's kept fairly short and sweet, like the nifty textured feedback and bass lines in Queen of Bruises, or the enjoyable clean intro to the first song. Unlike, say, Pelican, being instrumental isn't an issue for these guys, with everything kept lively and interesting. Perhaps this because of the track lengths? 3 songs- 17 minutes. All kept tight and concise- no note is wasted.

This is a great li'l ep, no doubt about it. It's not a life changing record, but it's by far the most 'metal', most head-bangable post-metal stuff I've yet heard. A great introduction into this genre, and just a solid, entertaining album all round.