CAPRICORNS - New Album Due In September; "A Heady Mix Of Crushing Power And Dark, Subtle Beauty"
July 29, 2008, 16 years ago
BW&BK; has received the folloing press release:
London, England based experimental metal band CAPRICORNS have completed work on their impending new album. Hauntingly-titled River, Bear Your Bones, the record will see a September 30, 2008 release via respected independent label Rise Above.
The sound of Capricorns is a heady mix of crushing power and dark, subtle beauty that has won over fans of the heavy arts worldwide. Comprised of members currently or previously involved in projects as disparate as IRON MONKEY, ORANGLE GOBLIN and CATTLEPRESS, Capricorns merge post-hardcore instrumentation with a pronounced post-rock tack, blurring the lines at every turn to deliver music that is both interesting and memorable. While previous efforts have seen the occasional vocal outburst (most notably from OXBOW’s Eugene Robinson on 2006’s Ruder Forms Survive); this time around Capricorns titanic arrangements are strong enough to easily hold their own.
River, Bear Your Bones is Capricorns’ masterwork; an engaging listen that is at once more precise and more exploratory than anything the band has done before. From the battle-doom opener ‘Broken Coffin of the Venerable King’ to the evil prog of ‘The Bells Rang Backwards’ through to the album’s monumental conclusion -- the 11 minute epic ‘Drinking Water From The Skull of A Hanged Man’ -- River, Bear Your Bones refuses to release the listener from its tenacious grip. Although devoid of vocals, the album harbors a conceptual theme throughout surrounding the band’s own London. River, Bear Your Bones is Capricorns' tribute to “life on the stones” and “a paean to Father Thames and the London Towne that spreads from its banks like a concrete cancer”.
Refusing to be pinned to a particular genre or classification, Capricorns have consistently made a point to perform in front of diverse audiences. While in the midst of writing River, Bear Your Bones, the band was selected to appear at both the decidedly-indie All Tomorrow's Parties Festival (alongside such bands as Architecture in Helsinki, ISIS and Grizzly Bear) and the decidedly-hard rock Roadburn Festival (where the band shared the stage with Witchcraft, Grand Magus, Trouble and more). Since its formation in 2003, Capricorns' sound and live sets have garnered high praise from such rock royalty as THE MELVINS’ King Buzzo and NEUROSIS’ Steve Von Till.
The final track listing for River, Bear Your Bones is as follows: 'Broken Coffin of the Venerable King' (8:45), 'Seventh Child of a Seventh Child' (5:49), 'Tempered With the Blood of Beasts' (6:56), 'November Suicides' (5:36), 'Owing to the Fogs' (7:25), 'The Bells Rang Backwards' (5:49), 'A Savage Race by Shipwrecks Fed' (6:58), 'Drinking Water From The Skull of a Hanged Man' (10:55)
On the topic of River, Bear Your Bones, Capricorns' guitarist Nathan Bennett states, "With the departure of our first drummer Chris Turner we decided to seize the opportunity to take Capricorns to a sonic place only previously hinted at. The time signatures grew odder, the pace grew faster, melodic interplay grew more complex and we became more aggressive overall. This was partially a reaction to previously being painted with the stoner and/or ‘instru-metal’ genre brush (which always made us cringe) and a natural progression for us as musicians and, dare I say it, composers. We wanted to make a unique dirty-ass metal record without vocals that could rip your face off but would also not be stuck in some obscure sub-genre ghetto, doomed to sound dated in two years time. In short, we hope we’ve created a powerful work that can tickle the grey matter and make you want to fuck shit up forever."
In addition to Bennett, Capricorns features Kevin Williams (guitar), Dean Berry (bass) and Nathan Perrier (drums).
For more information and audio samples go to this location.