By Andrew Bansal
The ‘rap metal’ genre had its heyday in the 90s, and while there’s no signs to suggest that it’s undergoing any kind of major resurgence, a handful of the older bands have kept it alive and this style of metal continues to have a fan-following. Aside from the 90s groups, new bands pop up every now and then with their interpretation of this type of sound. New York City’s Xombie is one such band, and their new album ‘Capital X’ is an honest, uninhibited effort to bring forth a fresh representation of the genre.
The seven-track album starts off with the rap-heavy ‘Velocarapper’, but the guitars kick in full-on midway through the track and keep the metal element very much intact. ‘Rock Bottom’, the song chosen as the single for the album, comes next and truly stands out as the best track on the album with an instantly catchy riff and heavy bass line to go with it which recurs throughout the song, and rightly so. Some ripping guitar solos also add further to the impact of the song, and it compels the listener to hit the repeat button as soon as it’s over.
The rest of the album goes through a good amount of variation in tempo and song structures, ‘Rotten Apple’ worth mentioning as another great composition and almost matching the impact levels of ‘Rock Bottom’. Capital X ends as strongly as it begins, with the title track and the closing tune ‘Friday’, and leaves the listeners satisfied and entertained by what they experienced during the 26-minute duration of the album.
I found this album to be a lot more enjoyable than I was anticipating, and that’s saying a lot because I’m not a fan of rap even in the slightest. But the metal in Xombie’s ‘Capital X’ makes the rap listenable, which is its strongest quality and makes the album serviceable to fans of bands such as System Of A Down, Body Count, and even Anthrax to a large extent.
Rating: 9/10
Release Date: July 29th 2014
Track Listing:
01. Velocarapper
02. Rock Bottom
03. Miss Behave
04. Polar Ice
05. Rotten Apple
06. Capital X
07. Friday (You Might Have Missed It)
Links:
XombieNation.com
facebook.com/XombieNYC
twitter.com/Xombie_NYC
instagram.com/XombieNYC