Capdown - Wind-Up Toys Album Review

Capdown
Wind-Up Toys
Album Review

Unless you were in the know, you'd never really win a game of "guess where they come from" when it comes to Capdown, for two reasons. Firstly, no band ever comes from Milton Keynes do they? Secondly, there is not really a discernable British element to most of their sound, at least not on this album.

Their sound is rather generic US Mainstream Punk, somewhat akin to the Bad Religions of this world, being tight, choppy punk rock, thick with melody. They do diversify into the familiar ska sound at times though, which is either 'your bag' or 'colostomy bag' depending on which side of the ska fence you sit.

To their credit, it is a mature sound, and one that the band should be proud of. There are also moments when the veil of derivation gets lifted. "Surviving the Death of a Genre" is a superb piece of Brit-Pop-Punk for example, but overall, the rest of the album leaves this listener a little flat. Listening from the wrong side of the ska fence perhaps here?

Richard Edge