The resumes of the Frenchmen found in One-Way Mirror suggest there’s enough potential and experience to wrangle together at least a halfway decent modern metal album. With the singer of Mnemic (Guillaume Bideu) and Lyzanxia’s Brothers Potvin (Franck and David) manning the guitar spots, the talent level is there, but when a band is misguided and sold on the idea of aping American modern rock bands in the context of semi-metal, then it’s a recipe for a disaster. Capture, the band’s fourth album, is pretty much just that. (Again: The resumes!)
Capture, in its 12 songs of radio-friendly nu rockin’, is primarily the Bideau show. Mnemic now being on hiatus, Bideau’s tidy melodic vocal spurts often served that very band well because of how heavy and staccato they were. Toss him in a context of bland-action riffing, and it’s over by the fourth track. Then again, if you’re in need of some real reach-grabs for commercialized rock, then don’t hesitate to cuddle up with “The Clock is Ticking,” “Confusion Core” and the near-unforgivable cover of Patty Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade,” a song re-popularized over a decade ago by popsters such as Pink and Christina Aguilera. (Never before have such names been referenced on this site. Yikes.)
Should the marketing powers that be have any modicum of common sense, then positioning this album to the heavier rock crowd would be wise. Hardlined metallers, who have previously fallen for such trickery will certainly not found much of value in such a listless album. Being that there’s a certain amount of commercialization just about anyone can stomach, One-Way Mirror have exceeded the limits for such a threshold. In turn, Capture is a total dud. (Any word on a new Lyzanxia album? Mindcrimes all the way!)