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Where the combination of metal and punk once stood out as novel, the two subcultures have been bedfellows for so long at this point that the opposite now holds true. Bands who tread the heavily populated middle ground with one foot in each lane must do everything in their power to avoid sounding rote, derivative, and featureless. So it says a lot that the Lafayette, Louisiana quartet Capra somehow manages to make its signature punk-metal hybrid land with a spark of freshness.
Much like Capra’s 2020 debut In Transmission, the band’s sophomore effort Errors recaptures the initial thrill of melding these genres as if it still represented a bold step that required nerve to pull off. Indeed, Capra possesses a rare ability to induce a sense of careening toward the edge.
On paper, of course, the recipe seems simple: marry the precision of metal with the anarchic energy of punk and switch gears enough to keep things interesting. Indirectly, however, Capra proves just how elusive that recipe actually is.
Fans of this brand of heavy music, for example, have heard countless iterations of the brawny hardcore riff that introduces “Tied Up.” But, even before the song reaches the 40-second mark, the band executes three dynamic shifts with unparalleled agility. None of the riffs, tempos or beats from “Tied Up,” in fact, would stand out all that much by themselves. And yet, for all the times we’ve heard these same stock ingredients, we haven’t heard them quite like this. Guitarist Tyler Harper and drummer Jeremy Randazzo, who founded the band together in 2016, have a knack for playing as if their lives depended on their ability to convey enthusiasm to the audience. So much music of this ilk settles into a numbing static after several songs in a row, but Harper, Randazzo, and new bassist Trevor Alleman appear to be incapable of letting their energy falter.
Meanwhile, vocalist Crow Lotus almost singlehandedly breathes new life into an enraged-screamer paradigm that sorely needed it. “It can’t be normal to feel this way,” she sings in the first verse of leadoff track “CHSF.” She continues: “I feel so empty, please god / Why can’t I connect to anyone or anything at all?” . Throughout the album, a sense of hollowness pervades, as Lotus tackles crippling depression (“CHSF,” “Obligatory Existence”), toxic shame (“Transplant”), hopelessness (“D’Arc”) and a host of other post-traumatic sensations.
Lotus made a conscious decision to explore mental health issues from a more personal perspective this time. She interprets the title “Errors” as a reference to people who feel so broken inside that they see their very existence as a kind of mistake. Harper, on the other hand, views the title more from the standpoint that our mistakes provide fodder for growth. The contrast between those viewpoints propels the music on Errors, which thoroughly invigorates, even as it leaves haunting images in its wake.
