With some brutal beats and out there vocal stylings, Xombie’s latest album Capital X will shake the dust from your weary bones.
Stream the full album here:
https://soundcloud.com/xombienyc/sets/capital-x/s-VNfUp
Starting strong, ‘Velocarapper’ sets out Xombie’s stall with clarity and focus, laying down some aggressive hip hop vocals with some real nu metal leanings. The fusion of rap and rock is performed as confidently as Linkin Park’s debut Hybrid Theory. ‘Rock Bottom’ cracks up the rock aspect one step further, a head banger of a track filled with catchy elements, while ‘Miss Behave’ leans harder into the hip hop side of things, partnering a sneering vocal with a range of guitar parts that shift from a kind of prog/jazz tone into an aggressive metal shred. The close of the track even wanders into a kind of emo/hardcore territory – you might even begin to excpect to hear some melodic harmonies and emotive screams in the background, but they never appear.
Lead single “Rock Bottom” features Kimbo Slice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWBolIfu4BM
‘Polar Ice’ delivers a brutal, relentless barrage of sound, the drums clattering and thudding like a runaway train while the vocals push their aggressive tone even harder, expletive laden and confrontational in a Rage Against The Machine style. ‘Rotten Apple’ makes a cynical and satirical stab at NYC, while title track ‘Capital X’ is a spluttering machine gun of a track, barely pausing for breath and implementing guitars that teeter on the edge of death metal. Closing with ‘Friday (You Might Have Missed It)’, Xombie shows capacity for a more tongue-in-cheek style as well, with hints of the Offspring and some delightful scratching that creates a cartoony feel that is a whole lot of fun.
By Chris Marsh
