Capture the Flag – Start From Scratch

Capture the Flag – Start From Scratch / 2003 Go Kart Records / 11 Tracks / http://www.capture-the-flag.net / http://www.gokartrecords.com / Reviewed 20 September 2003

I had to stop myself and actually ignore the fact that Capture the Flag was on Go Kart Records. Even with a relatively embarrassing promo sheet that dropped tons of names of bands that had absolutely no ties aurally to CtF (like Bad Religion, Dag Nasty, Descendents), Capture the Flag still makes a very good fusion of post-hardcore and pop-punk. Heavily drawing from some of the better metal from the eighties (such as Iron Maiden, Dio, and Helloween), Capture the Flag decides to mix influences with contemporaries like Sum 41 and Brand New. At times, the sound is a little muddy owing to the heavy use of distorted guitars, as the drums sound a tad bit mechanical and without the human flourish.

Beginning with a guitar riff reminiscent of 1037-era Green Day, “Eye to Eye” swiftly goes into a swirling maze of utterly indiscernible guitar riffs and the same inflected vocals by Jeff that are ever-present on Start from Scratch. “Its Over” has the nice effect of having Neil Pert-style bass lines padding the guitars, and also has the added benefit of a minor amount of experimentation. Capture the Flag and Avenged Sevenfold are evolutionally divergent bands. Growing up in the 1980s and being pummeled by the then-popular music style of heavy metal, Capture the Flag just has flourishes of the metal fixation present in their music while Avenged Sevenfold is pretty much just a Helloween knockoff band.

If you want repetition, try out Capture the Flag. Their music is relatively inoffensive and is polished to the degrees that the music ceased long ago to have a soul. The last thing that the world needs is a band that is slightly harder than AFI. While the looking-back approach to the guitars might provide some enjoyment during a few of the tracks, Capture the Flag just places 80s-style progressions pretty much anywhere they can.

Rating : 4.5/10

Top Tracks : This is Worthless, Eye to Eye