Capharnaum

Featuring members of Monstrosity, Trivium and Canada’s own Martyr, Capharnaum may or may not manage to survive as a fully functioning unit (geography’s got to be taking a toll here), but the eight tunes on this great debut sure make me hope they persevere. Drawing heavily from Martyr’s sound, Capharnaum add an extra amount of death metal bass-heavy pummelling to the proceedings, but never losing touch with the idea that this stuff has to be listenable to be any good. So it’s not too drenched in bass, but it’s heavy. It’s technically impressive, but not overtly circus-like in showmanship. Everything about this one is just a great compromise, a perfect meeting point between technical thrash and Floridian death, right down to the vocals, which thankfully are not Cookie Monster-ised. Fans of Martyr will no doubt want to check this out, but so will fans of just about any skilful heavy sounds.