Monday, March 28, 2016

Reviews, revisited

Continuing on with my severely neglected and outdated blog, here are some newer releases that I wish to comment on. It's times like these when I sort of hope no one has been waiting patiently for an update. If that's the case, however, you have my apologies.

Cobalt - Slow Forever

In the past, this veteran Colorado-based project hasn't really grabbed my attention. However, this particular album was highly anticipated by the folks at Decibel Magazine, so I figured I'd give it a spin. I am certainly glad I did, because this is truly compelling stuff. Ditching most of the conventions that tethered them to the black metal genre, Cobalt has been reborn in new and interesting ways. The riffs are more distinctive than on previous releases, and the result is a more immediate and memorable album. New vocalist Charlie Fell proves to be an excellent addition to Erik Wunder's realm of despair, as he sounds positively venomous. It seems pointless to write a track-by-track synopsis, as every song on this ambitious double album seems indispensable to the album as a whole. Just know that it's heavy, dark and twisted. I can't say that fans of Cobalt albums like Gin or Eater of Birds will be as pleased as I am, but this is a surprisingly solid effort by a band I might have otherwise written off.