Mirko Capitani - The Cage

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The same comment as always: a musician starts a side project to use ideas that the main band’s identity couldn’t use. Imagine a musician with a strong melodic influence playing on extreme Metal bands. It’s the best way to deal with the artist problem, and that’s what the Italian guitarist Mirko Capitani did. He found on some friends the right members to record “The Cage”, a five-song EP under the name of CAPITANI.

The best thing to do before dealing with this EP is to forget any previous conceptions. By melodic Metal ways, it doesn’t mean that “The Cage” is in a Symphony Power Metal way. No, it’s a rich and melodic modern traditional Heavy Metal, in the same vein of names as ICED EARTH, or describing in some words: a powerful, aggressive and modern form of playing traditional Heavy Metal that doesn’t remind NWOBHM. And it’s really great, with amazing melodies, great and strong choruses, and energy. And it transpires with an aggressive energy as well.

The sound quality presented on the songs is good. All can be understood and the heavy ambiance is excellent (bearing some nasty and distorted moments that really fits on such kind of music). But the final result is a bit more artificial, sounds pasteurized. It’s not a waste of time or efforts, but could be far better than what’s presented. Musically, “The Cage” is amazing. On “The Cage”, the modern melodies are excellent, shaping a song with a rich set of guitar riffs and excellent vocals. The same works on “Awakenings”, but with a more worked technique on bass guitar and drums. The tender melodic introspection of “Dust” is really great, and the song keeps some aggressiveness (during the choruses). The gluing chorus and accessible touch of “Revenge” is amazing, and some keyboards can be heard as well, improving the melodies created by the guitars. And the aggressive melodic outfit of “The Chains of Me” is really charming, with very good vocals.

“The Cage” is such an excellent release, that kind that makes you wait for more of the band. Boosting the sound quality a bit more and CAPITANI has all the chances to become great!

Originality: 8
Songwriting: 10
Memorability: 9
Production: 6