Caprycon

Caprycon is a new female-fronted Progressive-Metal band hailing from Perth, Australia. The line-up consists of Gina Bafile (vocals, lyrics), George Garofallou (bass), Kristjan Kristjansson (drums), Martin Blackman (guitars), and Sean Bernard (keyboards, arrangements). The band began in 2009 through the collaboration of singer Gina Bafile with composer Maty Young (not a band member). In July 2010, Caprycon became a quintet with the ambition of creating original music inspired on Progressive Rock and Progressive Metal, with influcences of “Rush”, “Yes”, “Dream Theater”, and “Edenbridge”. “Dark Earth” is Caprycon‘s self-produced debut EP. It was recorded, mixed and mastered in 2010 at Sovereingn Studios by Aidan Barton; and finally released in 2011. The sonority of Caprycon is difficult to categorize, even within the universe of “Female-Fronted Metal” bands. Caprycon blends elements of Epic-Metal, Melodic-Metal, Doom-Metal, Gothic-Metal, Prog-Metal, and Progressive Rock to compose their songs. The sonority recalls me of bands like “Dreams of Sanity”, “Siegfried“ (without the grunting male vocals), “Elis”, “Eyes of Eden”, “Legend”, “Imperia”, “Nemesea“, “Edenbridge”, “Epica”, “Delain”, “Xandria”, “Nemezis”, “Syrens Call”, “Amartia”, “Sinphonia” (Danish Gothic band), and even “Candlemass”, but with an extensive use of elaborated guitar solos and featuring keyboard arrangements and textures that are common in Progressive Rock. The powerful vocals of Gina Bafile are a strong highlight of the band. Even though she sometimes extrapolates her vocal range (a minor flaw that can be easily corrected) she is a passionate singer whose voice and style recall me immediately of “Sandra Schleret” (“Dreams of Sanity”, “Siegfried“, “Elis”), “Franziska Huth” (“Eyes of Eden”), ”Soraya Hostens“ (“Syrens Call”), and “Sonia Pineault” (“Forgotten Tales”). The bassist George Garofallou is another important component of Caprycon’s sonority – he is technical, progressive and metallic. His counterpart is Sean Bernard, whose arrangements search for the Byzantine and Indo-European roots, creating Symphonic and Prog-Metal moments that are crowned with his skilled performance with the Moog. Everything is driven by Blackman‘s powerful gothic-doom guitars and melodic solos; and sustained by Kristjansson‘s pounding drumming. The contribution of guests Chris Feldman (acoustic guitar and guitar solo) and Jarrod Curley (rhythmic guitar) add an extra Progressive-Metallic ingredient to make Caprycon’s music still richer. The EP “Dark Earth” features 7 tracks. The symphonic intro “Ebony Shores” brings an epic atmosphere that is later darkened by the cadenced Doom-Metallic bass and guitars of the title track “Dark Earth”, recalling me at first of “Epica” and “Candlemass”, and later of “Dreams of Sanity” and “Siegfried”. The following two songs are chained to each other: “Desert Song“ is the Arabesque intro for the amazing “Falling into Winter“ – a heavy Oriental-Doom-Metal driven by a solid guitar riffs, featuring coiling guitar solos and great vocal performance by Gina, who sings in a duo with herself (reminding me of “Dreams of Sanity”, and sounding as a female-fronted version of “Candlemass”). “Sorrowchild“ has a rocky energy, and the confrontation of bass against keyboards, coupled with an excellent melodic guitar theme steer the band to the sonority of “Elis” and “Edenbrige”. “Empty“ is the most accessible track, being driven by acoustic guitars and Gina’s folk-vocals; but the initial duet of melodic guitars combined with great Moog solos (reminiscent of “Yes” and “Edenbridge”) inserts on this song a high level of Progressiveness. The closing track is “Symphony of Hope“ - a song that begins like a Melodic Gothic-Metal and turns later to a Neo-Prog, bringing influences ranging from “Edenbridge” and “Elis” to “Syrens Call” and “Legend”. It is lavishly adorned with an extra-long bluesy guitar solo and Neo-Progressive Moog solos. Caprycon has made an excellent and surprising debut, very promising indeed. With some fine adjustments and better production, Caprycon will profit from its unique sonority to instill new energy into the current scene of Female-Fronted Metal bands. Caprycon is therefore highly recommended for fans of “Dreams of Sanity”, “Elis”, “Eyes of Eden”, “Syrens Call”, “Edenbridge”, “Epica”, “Delain”, “Legend”, “Nemesea“, “Xandria”, and so on. Band members and collaborators involved in Caprycon are: Gina Bafile – Vocals; George Garofallou – Bass; Martin Blackman – Guitar; Kristjan Kristjansson – Drums; Sean Bernard - Keyboard, Moog, Samples. Guest guitarists: Chris Feldman – Acoustic Guitars on “Empty” and additional solo on “Symphony of Hope”; Jarrod Curley – Rhythm Guitar on “Falling into Winter” and “Sorrowchild”... (Comments by Marcelo Trotta) - Progressive Rock & Progressive Metal Internet Zine

Hailing from Perth, Caprycon are a relatively new band forming in 2009. 'Dark Earth' is their debut EP and contains five songs (along with two short instrumental pieces) of progressive metal. Reference points include Dream Theater and Stream Of Passion.



The members are all accomplished musicians and this is readily apparent as classical keyboard flourishes, jazz influenced bass and flashy lead breaks owing something to the likes of Joe Satriani feature throughout. Importantly, for the most part Caprycon don't fall into the trap of trying too hard to dazzle with their skill. As a result, their songs are concise, well structured and hold the attention. The one exception is Sorrowchild which does suffer somewhat from there simply being too much going on.



Elsewhere though it's pretty much all high quality stuff, led by the title track which is a big chunky slab of symphonic progressive metal. Empty is more restrained with what sounds like some vintage Moog adding some depth and atmosphere. The brief Middle-Eastern flavoured instrumental Desert Song gives way to the sombre Falling Into Winter, perhaps the heaviest song on the EP and showcasing Gina Bafile's soaring vocals. The uplifting Symphony Of Hope brings things to a close in fine style.



According to the band's website, Caprycon are intending to develop their sound further 'into more of an advanced level of progressive rock, heavily influenced by 70's progressive legends, with a modern twist', so it will be interesting to see how the band evolves in the future. 'Dark Earth' suggests that the skill is there to support their ambitions and is a very impressive debut in its own right.



James McKenzie - dB Magazine

CAPRYCON are a fairly new band to the metal scene. The band strikes a delicate balance between the gothic metal of, Nightwish and the progressive tendencies of Rush. The latter tendencies are not surprising as Caprycon features three former members of Enkounter, vocalist Gina Bafile, bassist George Garafallou and drummer Kristjan Kristjansson. The new faces here are guitarist, Martin Blackman and keyboardist Sean Bernard. ‘Dark Earth’ represents a culmination of all the bands hard work to date.

Bafile is the primary songwriter of the band and she’s enlisted a very good supporting cast of musicians. Of particular note is Garafallou’s bass playing. Bernard’s keyboards are also noteworthy. He can produce orchestral arrangements, but can also produce solos reminiscent of Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman. Bernard has an appreciation for Seventies keyboard heroes that is not commonly heard today among the new breed of keyboard heroes.

This EP really wants to be liked. So what’s wrong here? The problem is only slight, but it’s there. With progressive bands there can be a tendency to overload on musical ideas in songs, and this problem crops up on the title track to ‘Dark Earth.’ It just takes a bit too long to get started. ‘Empty’ is an example of how good Caprycon can be when they get it right. ‘Symphony of Hope’ also gets it right, it’s not musically over-indulgent and it has an intro riff to die for.

It’s a promising start for a new band, but one that is highly skilled. If they can be a bit more disciplined with their song-writing and come up with some stronger vocal melodies, Caprycon will be able to make their mark internationally. - Spaceship News

There oughtta be a law that you can’t make prog rock without a Moog – the two go together like bacon and eggs. In Caprycon’s case, the venerable machine provides a dreamy, trance-like base on which the band builds their dark, ethereal soundscape. And it almost works.

Like so much progressive stuff, much of Dark Earth sounds more like a film score than a rock album, the soundtrack to some bizarre sci-fi or fantasy flick. That’s actually when it works best – the instrumentation is both rich and precise, the resulting sound amazingly evocative. It’s when the band leans more towards rock than prog that the wheels come off a little.

Vocalist Gina Bafile has an amazing set of lungs, but a tendency to stretch beyond his range hamstrings some of the songs, particularly Sorrowchild. When she sticks to her lower natural key, though, the results are fairly impressive, as a listen to the last three tracks on the EP will attest to.

Those niggles aside, this is a solid piece of dark esoterica, and with a little polish and a little luck, Caprycon should prove to be worth keeping an eye on.

_TRAVIS JOHNSON - XPress Magazine

Can't wait to see you lot live again! There's no other band that makes me feel like an incompitent musician in the way that you guys do...

Keep up the wicked music! - Robert King Linden - Fan

"Dark Earth" is a pretty decent slice of progressive metal. The playing is stellar, with some very nice jazzy bass lines from George Garofallou leading into the title track and plenty of great guitar work. The arrangements are progressive enough to make things interesting without trying to be too elaborate or quirky and the band injects flourishes of keys, strings and samples in all the right places, on the darker, heavier "Falling into Winter" Bafile slips into a lower register which is much more impressive, making this one of the stand out tracks. The keys dominate on the melancholy "Empty" while a titanic guitar solo looms over "Symphony of Hape" that also features a Moog wailing into the fade. Musically speaking this is great progressive metal EP with some fine songs, excellent playing and spot-on production. - Loud Magazine

"GIGNITION Swan Basement North Fremantle 17/10/2010 Caprycon, lead by a confident and strong female vocalist, had a heavier vibe. Each number was appealing, the truly gifted bassist's speedy finger work was a highlight and a delight to see and hear."

KRISTY SYMONDS, Drum Media - Drum Media