The striking cover art of a suicide victim, drawn in stark black ink and subtle shading, drew us in immediately. With a grim, highly detailed look that reminds us of old Rudimentary Peni artwork, the cover depicts the deceased's destroyed head blossoming into a psychedelic vomit spew of toy horses and vines, eyeballs and alien fauna, forming one of the more warped tableaux we've witnessed on an album cover. It's an awesome visual counterpart to the driving metallic instrumentals that make up almost all of Ruder Forms Survive, the debut album from this UK group made up of former members of Dukes Of Nothing, Bridge & Tunnel, Iron Monkey and Orange Goblin. This album serves up a sound that actually stands out from the legions of voiceless metallers that have seemingly crawled out of every corner over the past few years - in Capricorn's churning heavy riffage and prog-inflected power dirges, we're hearing bits and pieces of grimy UK crustmetal, doomy sludge, Pink Floyd's oft-evocative space rock, and even some of Amebix's brooding gloominess, though Capricorns ultimate sound is wholly their own. Sometimes slow and brooding and creepy, or crushingly rocking and propulsive with huge radiant major key chords exploding in the sky, the songs certainly stand out, 'cuz as proggy and intricate as they are capable of getting, the guys in Capricorns consistently focus on the RIFF, and there are so many truly catchy, memorable riffs and songs on here that we've actually listened to this album nonstop since we got 'em in. One of the album's standouts though is "The First Broken Promise". The only song not to feature a cryptic reference to a year in it's title (as with "1977: Blood For Papa", or "1440: Exit Wargasmotron"), "The First Broken Promise" features a guest collaboration with Oxbow's Eugene Robinson for the sole vocal performance on the disc. That track is badass, as Robinson's unmistakeable psychotic wailings fit perfectly with Capricorns tumultuous riffage. Kinda wished we coulda heard more of that teamup! But Capricorns mighty instrumental stoner metal is fine just the way it is, loaded with killer repetitious grooves and intricate, spacey sludge sagas stretching out forever. One of Crucial Blast's top 20 albums to take on a long drive, for real!