Slightly emo name, a metalcore tag, I should be worried about this one really but nope, one listen to these Danes told me all I needed to know that this was as full of pain as a faceplant in the nail section of a DIY store. That’s not in an emo way either I should add, there’s no tears being shed here just all out aggression and not a patch of clean harmonic vocals as ex Hatesphere frontman Jonathan Albrechtsen bellows away. Songs are short sharp and pretty damn relentless, rife with jagged shredding enthusiasm and pissed off vocals. Despite this there is a lot of chunky melody and plenty of hooks about this mobs second album and the hardcore posturing is enforced by some great grooving lines and shredding power riffs that are impossible to ignore and which get you fully pumped up during the eleven song assault.
There may not be a huge amount of surprises here and the songs may not be vastly different from each other but play this loud and bounce around and Cape Zero will give you a damn fine workout. There are the obligatory beat downs and gang shouts thrown in amidst a seething maelstrom of unrelenting musical fury which at times judders around and shakes you like a rag doll in a pit-bulls muzzle. “All you wanted was a beautiful death” is the shout out on ‘Untitled’ and it reminds me of a passage read recently in the Al Jourgensen biography about El Duce singer of The Mentors realising he was about to be hit by a train and opening his arms to meet his demise and welcome his own passage to the next place. It’s that type of gung-ho attitude that the song and indeed the whole album here bristles with, a big ballsy fuck you attitude.
There are a few moments to lighten things and get prepped up for the next unrelenting onslaught but they are few and far between; midway instrumental ‘Long Way Down’ just being a brief 70 seconds before the whirlwind of destruction that is the title track hones in. You can close your eyes here and imagine a pit full of ugly seething away and bodies flying all over the shop as the band cut things up live. They do a great job of replicating this on album too as it makes you want wreck around the living room and practice stage dives out the window, something that being two floors up I decide would be a rather stupid idea.
It looks like the band have quite a widespread appeal as they are about to bring their destructive force to stages in Asia playing the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia over the next few weeks. From what I have heard the natives react with everything they have to shows by visiting bands so these should be full on. Cape Zero is one full on mother of an album and it’s a case of pressing play and hanging on for the ride. Job done!
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
Leave a Reply