Cobalt -- Gin

ADD · #1 03-30-2009, 10:28 AM

Didn't think they could top Eater of Birds, let alone by such a long-shot, but sure enough Gin is another landmark album for this duo. They turned down the black metal influence and turned up the attention to songwriting and the result is a masterpiece of visceral, feral, fuckin intense metal. The vocalist Phil McSorley is an infantry soldier currently stationed in Iraq in the midst of the heavy action and recorded the vocals for this and the last album during his breaks, and knowing that really adds a different dimension to this band. Dude isn't fucking around. The clear, forceful production on Gin brings everything up a little more to the front, including the vocals, which range from a Michael Gira of Swans-like drone to a tortured shriek, but the guitar tone is what really benefits from the improved sound. Fat and crushing with a natural feel, and with great use of dynamics to make the heavy parts really hit hard. The main musical influences I hear on this record can be summed up as a mix between the hypnotic/progressive leanings of Neurosis, the violent blackened thrash riffing of a band like Destroyer 666 (or actually better put maybe like Bathory circa Blood Fire Death cuz some of these songs also have that kinda epic bounce to them), and surprisingly enough Undertow/Aenima-era Tool. I mean the last comparison more in terms of the feel or vibe I get from this record, along with the heavily percussive/tribal drumming and some of the riffs echoing songs like "Third Eye" and "Pushit". This is the only record I've heard that takes the Tool influence and does something unique and different with it in a clearly metal context, namely channeling that odd, vaguely supernatural vibe of albums like Aenima and essentially smashing it with a hammer in a ferocious display of primal humanity.

The best word I can think of to describe this album is intense, even during the transition parts, its tense and fierce and frothing at the mouth, metaphorically speaking. Check it out if this sounds like your thing.

DethMaiden · #2 03-30-2009, 11:02 AM

I know nothing about this band but the picture of Hemingway on the cover makes me want to hear this album.

overkiller · #3 03-30-2009, 11:35 AM

Sounds awesome. I grabbed it a little while ago, I'll have to spin it soon.

SomewhereInTime72 · #4 03-30-2009, 11:56 AM

This has piqued my interest, definitely.

Natrlhi · #5 04-13-2009, 12:22 PM

Grabbed this over the weekend...and liking it a lot so far.

I think your linking them to Tool is a really fitting analogy, but I found it was only true at times...other times they were a bit more metal and less proggy.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up. I will keep listening and maybe post some more thoughts later.

Nat

Natrlhi · #6 06-16-2009, 11:56 AM

Time for a bump. This album is just plain awesome, and needs to get more attention (IMHO).

This is going to end up being in my top ten for the year - I can just feel it on my bones. Crikey, is this album good. These guys are so intense, it just makes me smile from ear to ear every time I listen to this album. The references ADD made to the Tool influence are spot-on...it's more of a feel thing than an outright stealing of riffs or methodologies or the like. I mean, the drumming is obviously very close to listening to a Tool album, but there are lots of other subtle nuances here as well. The songwriting is fantastic. How these two guys manage to communicate their ideas to each other so well over so many miles is just amazing. I mean, I know we live in the information age, but still. Damn! I can't wait to see these guys live, if such a thing could ever materialize. I just feel bad for the people who are standing next to me at the time - somebody might get an inadvertent elbow thrown at them, or an accidental head-butt or something. I just might lose my f-ing mind.

But seriously, though. These guys are so good. This album rocks. You need to hear it. Period.

Nat (again)

ADD · #7 06-16-2009, 01:02 PM

Yeah man, this is the shit. Two Thumbed Fist is one of the most intense songs I've ever heard.

Natrlhi · #8 06-17-2009, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADD

Two Thumbed Fist is one of the most intense songs I've ever heard.

No doubt - and it rocks your balls off for almost ten fecking minutes.

That song is particularly Tool-ish, don't you think? Especially the guitars in the opening minute or so...very Lateralus-era.

ADD · #9 06-17-2009, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natrlhi

No doubt - and it rocks your balls off for almost ten fecking minutes.

That song is particularly Tool-ish, don't you think? Especially the guitars in the opening minute or so...very Lateralus-era.

Absolutely, you have a good ear.

DethMaiden · #10 08-16-2009, 07:47 PM

Yeah, this is probably the most heavy thing I've heard since Rwake's Voices of Omens a couple years back. If you've heard either, you know what kind of heavy I mean. My favorite tracks are "Gin", "Arsonry", and "A Starved Horror", but every damn note on the album is perfect. This will probably claw its way to album of the year for me, and I recommend it to anyone needing a headfuck.

Addendum: Those lyrics! They're fucking insane, and I mean that literally. It's already a terrifying, dark, grim, drug-induced album, but most of the lyrics are about fucking: not love, or even sex which is based in love, but in hateful crazy weird fucking. Tripped out, and I haven't even started to unearth all the levels of meaning. I hope when he finishes his tour in Iraq he does a tour of the U.S.