Balancing work life with music life can be a struggle and it is one Italy's Black Capricorn have learnt to come to terms with over their tenure and they have done this by working gigs/tours and and time spent in studios around the jobs that give them the funds to carry on making the music they love, it is a struggle faced by many bands these days. Thankfully Black Capricorn are a resilient bunch of individuals and the recent announcement of a new album "Sacrifice Darkness... and Fire" (Majestic Mountain Records) is proof of that resilience, the recording of this album may not have been easy given the circumstances but great art is often born out of struggle.
In a short blurb on the bands Bandcamp page for new album "Sacrifice Darkness... and Fire" Desert Psychlist described Black Capricorn as "the more doomic and less scuzzy arm of the Italian acid doom scene" a statement we can quantify here by explaining that although Black Capricorn share many of the same influences that have inspired bands like Sonic Demon, Witchsnake and Demonio their sound is much more traditional in flavour with vocals pushed further forward in the mix and fuzz pedals dialled to a more accessible level of fuzzy. Do not, however, be fooled into thinking Black Capricorn are not heavy, they are, but that heaviness is imbued with an element of swing and melody that many of their contemporaries tend to overlook in favour of a more filthier and nastier sound. In fact listening to this album while we write Desert Psychlist is struck by how much Black Capricorn's sound has become less Sabbath-esque and more Uncle Acid-ish. OK opening track "Sacrifice" does have its Sabbathian moments but when you take away the reverberating riffs and thundering drums what you are left with is a lilting melody that without its dank backing might even be considered radio friendly. The same could be said of following song "The moon rises as the immortal" only here we find Rachela Piras (drums); Virginia Piras (bass) and Fabrizio Monni (guitars/vocals) layering a little acidic psych and lysergic bluesiness into the mix with Monni decorating the results with vocal tones that although mournful are nonetheless melodic. "The night they came to take you away" finds Black Capricorn flexing their stoner-doom muscles with low slow and heavy bass and drums supporting clean lilting vocals and searing bluesy guitar textures. Crunchy hard rock, chugging proto-metal and old school heavy metal are the ingredients that make up the instrumental "Queen Zabo" while for "Another night, another bite" the trio go full on Sabbath, Monni going as far as effecting an Ozzy-like nasal sneer in his vocal delivery. It is back to the low and slow for "Blood of Evil" a mournful doomic yet bluesy tome taken to another level by both Monni's melancholic vocal and his less is more guitar work. Penultimate track "Electric night" is somewhat of a galloping rocker that utilizes a little grunge-like slurriness in its guitar dynamics and brings us nicely around to closing number "A New Day Rising" a song that begins life dank dark and atmospheric but then suddenly morphs into an easy on the ear chugging proto rocker in possession of melodically pleasing vocals, those vocals intoned over a dank groove driven hard by the rhythmic might of the sisters Piras.
Black Capricorn's "Sacrifice Darkness... and Fire" is an undeniably doomic, unquestionably dank and unashamedly raw opus but at the same time is also a disarmingly melodic album that sits easy on the ears despite all its heaviness. Black Capricorn have released some truly great music over the years but "Sacrifice Darkness...and Fire" might just be their finest moment yet.
Check it out ....
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