Capra : "Errors"

 

There is been a trend of female fronted hard core bands cropping up more this year. This is the second album from these kids and from the opening track it seems it might be a ripper. It is on Metal Blade, so there is enough cross over into metal to warrant. Most of that can be found in the guitar. Those grooves are more interesting than when they default into the more straight forward punk feel on "Tied Up" .  Lotus' angry yells follow a similar pattern regardless of if the rest of the band is in more of a metal mode or punk outburst. I appreciate the effort of the guitarist to make things rather sonic. They are quick to jerk a riff around on you, and incorporate a mathy angular twist to thing. 

Crow does ride the groove of "Silana" better with where she puts her words than she did with the previous song. There is a fun 90s vibe to the energy of the song. There break downs stomp , but the songs are not reliant on them. 'Trauma Bond" proves that when they lean into the groove of the riffs they are at their most potent as a band. When they speed things up they end up sounding like every other punk band. Sometimes deciding what balance to achieve in this regard  plays to their favor. The use of backing gang vocals comes sparingly into play which is another wise choice on their part as it makes those moments more memorable. However four songs in her vocals begin to feel like she is a one trick pony. 

"Loser" is more up tempo, which finds her resorting to a similar style of shouting that falls under a more typical color by numbers style of hard core. The guitar riffing is what ends up providing the songs most redeeming moments. As a band they are very polished, so say they are tight, should never be an issue as you should not be releasing albums on an actual label if that is not the case. The deliberate drumming of "Kingslayer". The more thrashing feel is pretty effective. Crow's cadence shifts a little, but she doesn't come any closer to singing. I also notice during the song, she doesn't really allow her voice to crack into a scream or drop into a growl, it's sits tonally like a more forceful take on her speaking voice. This begins to make everything feel dynamically flat. 

The singer from Walls of  Jericho joins them on "Human Commodity" which is added by perhaps the album's most powerful riff.  "Transplant" just blasts by without really gripping me in a manner that demands my attention, which I think the point of hard core is that it is music that grabs your attention. "Obligatory Existence"  continues to find the album losing steam, though the riffs have a little more hook to them, yet Crow remains a angry girl just screaming over things without contributing to giving the song more form or function. "Nora" is more sonic and finds the band attacking with a more sonic black metal like blast. If this had been George Clarke from Deafheaven on this track it would have really slapped, but instead we are getting what we get here. This album sounds great overall, and there are some cool guitar riffs captured in what at first were entertaining songs but the vocals began to fall flat and bore me, so I will give this album an 8, which is still better than most hard core bands, but not at the top of the heap, though these kids have potential.