Album/EP

Capstan - The Mosaic (Album Review)

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Heavy Metal Wordsmith

May 22, 2024

7 min read

Capstan – Mosaic
Released: May 24^th, 2024

Lineup:

Anthony DeMario || Vocals
Harrison Bormann | Guitar
Andrew ‘Boz’ Bozymowski || Bass, Vocals
Scott Fisher || Drums
Joseph Mabry || Guitar, Vocals

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Hailing from the sunny sleepy town of Florida, on the USA’s east coast comes Capstan. A five-piece signed to Fearless Records and about to release their 8^th album The Mosaic – consisting 18 songs with a rather impressive 10-minute conclusion in the form of its title track.

‘I. Revolve’ is first up and it kicks the album off with a literal thunderstorm. It’s only two minutes long, but there’s nothing wrong with kicking off a record with just a small taster which leads into ‘Misery Scene’. While usually I’d think the second song on a record is too early to get ‘sad’, this just fits in seamlessly. It shifts effortlessly from acoustic ballad to post-hardcore with a breakdown and everything! ‘Final Words’ has Silverstein vibes for me, and if you’re going to sound like another band, that’s not a bad choice It’s weirdly positioned musically for me with the way it fades in and out in tempo, feeling like it should be the closer, not the third.

‘Undertow’ is possibly my favourite track on the record. It starts off with a record scratch synth which sets the tone for the rest of the song. Its got synths, it’s got breakdowns, it’s got a guitar solo and Anthony DeMario kills it vocally, what more could you ask for really? Oh and don’t forget, it has a ‘Bleugh!’ moment as well. ‘An Open Letter’ is a 60 second long acoustic track, completely raw and unedited and seems to fit in as a bit of a pallet cleanser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlPfHtTZPLY

Is it really a post-hardcore record without mentioning a girl’s name? ‘Hailey’ is up next and though the name is never actually spoken, what the lyrics DO say is incredibly moving. ‘As we grow, everyday, you’re the true North, still guiding my way’ features during the chorus and I thoroughly recommend just listening to the lyrics of the song to understand its touching message.

Get your tissues out for ‘Bloom’, a beautifully profound piano ballad that talks about being stifled in agony, cutting out the ’dead’ and staring over. It builds to a beautiful crescendo moment where the electric guitar, bass and drums come it but is still one that will have you reaching for the tissues. Next up is ‘Empire’, and it’s interwoven with both clean and unclean vocals, and the guitar and piano incorporated throughout give it a real horror movie vibe. If Ice Nine Kills are the benchmark in the theatrical, Capstan come damn close for this one. Think Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but make it heavy. That’s what ‘Empire’ feels like to me.

‘What You Want’ marks the halfway point of ‘The Mosaic’, and had me confused for a second because it is so different to anything else we’ve heard so far. I would say it borderlines on being a pop-punk song, but I guess it keeps with the aesthetic of storytelling from the previous track. It also features guest vocals from Broadside’s Oliver Baxxter, and his voice compliments DeMario’s perfectly. The song also features a sax solo, which is becoming more common in the alternative scene lately. And more of it I say.

‘II. Revise’ is a bit of a nothing track for me, not really good but not really bad, just kinda ‘meh’, and on an album that’s 18 songs long, maybe this one would have been better left for a B-side or a deluxe edition down the track. The thunderstorm is back with ‘Dwell’ which starts super synthy before the guitar makes an appearance and it’s another ballad type song. I’ll give the band one thing, they’re really good at musical whiplash with the tone and the vibe from one song to the next.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OBuYuq5a_o

‘Arrows’ is another one that I’m a little conflicted about. While it’s not a bad song by any means, it’s just seems out of place on an album full of already strong songs. I even had to go back and listen to it a couple more times to try and get more of a feel for it, but it just never really connected with me. ‘Compendium’ is another of the shorter songs, at just over a minute and a half long. It’s an instrumental featuring everything from wind to strings and goes along with the theatrical vibes brought from ‘Empire’ and ‘Dwell’. ‘Bête Noire’ (translated to English literally means ‘the bane of someone’s existence’), feels a bit like a punch in the gut, at least at first, because it’s so much heavier than what ‘Compendium’ was, and that Ice Nine Kills feeling is back. It reminds me a bit of ‘A Grave Mistake’ musically which is in no way a negative comment from me. It talks about picking bones and tearing people limb from limb, and features some notable screams.

We go from being the bane of one’s existence, to ‘Moloch’, which talks about child sacrifice. This seems fitting seeing as ‘Moloch’ is a deity associated with yep, you guessed it, child sacrifice. It’s a very eerie song both due to its subject matter, and the cutting in and out of a female vocal that sounds like it comes from a 1920’s jazz song. Then from child sacrifice, we go into ‘What Can I Say’, an almost 4-minute country-esque offering; and as you would expect when you think ‘country, there’s a banjo! Banjos are always fun and they bring something different to the album, so personally I’m not complaining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIy1UREo_0Y

‘Heart To Heart’’s the beginning of the end as the second to last track on the album. It’s a bit of a concoction of genres as it starts off real dancey, before shifting to ballad territory and then into modern rock song mode. I wish it was placed earlier in the tracklisting because it’s definitely one of the better tracks from the record.

We close out a puzzle piece of a journey with the title track, ‘III. The Mosaic’ which also comes in at a whopping 10 minutes and 3 seconds long. It is one song, but it definitely feels like a tale told in 2 parts, with the first half and the second half having completely different sounds. While the first half is full of unclean vocals and heavy guitars, the second half is cleanly sung and has a lot more of an instrumental to it. There is honestly a lot that I could say about the album closer, but I really think that it’s better off enjoyed as the sonic journey it was intended to be.

The Mosaic really does live up to it’s namesake, being a lot of little different pieces being put together to form a picture. It’s eerie, it’s theatrical, it’s synthy and a journey. It’s a strong offering from the Floridia five-piece, but it doesn’t hit all the apexes for me. There’s a few filler songs that could have been left off, but overall it’s a palatable release.