Jo Capitalicide is like the Great White North’s Joel Grind. He’s a metalpunk renaissance man, not afraid to dip his toes in a vast array of metal subgenres through a variety of bands and projects. The most prominent of these projects is Ice War. For the last five years, Capitalicide has used Ice War as an outfit to create metal for those who’ve wondered, “What if Exciter tried their hand at punk?”. It’s fast, raw, and distinctly Canadian. I can’t say for certain what makes an act “Canadian”, but there is some DNA between bands like Anvil, Exciter, and Ice War that couldn’t be replicated here in the states.
If you’ve followed Ice War from day one, then you know what to expect. Unfortunately, I can’t say their latest album, Defender, Destroyer, would resonate with newcomers the same as past releases. Only half of the album really struck a chord with me and I’ve been a fan for a couple years. The other half seemed redundant and rehashed. Furthermore, Defender, Destroyer, suffers from a much too thin production. The bass is all but absent. Considering the punk spirit throughout, this release could’ve been significantly improved by grimy Lemmy inspired bass. With all this said, it’s not good to dwell on the negatives unless absolutely necessary.
Defender, Destroyer isn’t completely null in its efforts. For one, Capitalicide delivers some outstanding leads and solos on songs such as, “Power from Within”, “Rising from the Tomb”, and “Crucified in Fire”. I’m not sure if this comparison has been made before, but Capitalicide’s lead playing has a distinct epic flavor to it in the vein of Brocas Helm and English Dogs. I especially make the comparison to English Dogs since they’re essentially what Manilla Road would sound like if they played crust punk.
There’s also your fair share of high speed, high intensity neck snappers; the fastest being the album’s title track. While the majority of the album’s fare falls somewhere between speed metal and punk, “Defender, Destroyer” is a full blown thrasher that sounds like classic Razor (fellow countrymen). We’ve got machine gun riffing, lightning fast double bass drumming, and gruff Sheepdog-esque shouts, all from the same man. Now that’s talent!
Defender, Destroyer isn’t Ice War’s finest hour. Some would argue their finest hour has yet to come. That could be true. If that’s the case, I hope for a more focused songwriting effort when said hour comes. Hell, give me an album’s worth of “Defender, Destroyer”s!
6 out of 10
Label: Fighter Records
Genre: Speed Metal/Punk
For fans of: Exciter, Motörhead, English Dogs