Artist: Cobalt
Title: Gin
Type: Album
Label: Profound Lore
‘Eater of Birds’, the previous album from this US duo, caused a bit of a stir upon release and garnered Cobalt a reputation of representing a direct collision course between Neurosis-inspired post-metal with the screeching filth of black metal’s less refined moments. It was an interesting proposition, furthered by the band’s bleakly nihilistic imagery and saw Cobalt lumped in with the burgeoning ‘post-black’ scene (Wolves in the Throne Room, Amoseours et al) – a pigeon-holing that ‘Gin’ exposes to be, at best, lazy and at worst, tenuous to the point of non-existence.
‘Gin’ is an ode to nihilistic self-destruction, of hedonistic, uncaring self-abuse (the dedications to Hunter S Thompson and Ernest Hemmingway being dead giveaways) and in this, at least philosophically, there are parallels with elements of black metal. But this is more or less where it ends – musically, Cobalt pick up on the tribal, ritualistic violence of Swans and Neurosis, fusing it with a bestial, metalised sheen to create something fiercely individualistic. The two protagonists behind ‘Gin’ give form to a very personal exorcism – there is a real physicality to the music here, a genuine sense of the sweat, pain and force that has gone into performing these songs. During the blastbeats that arrive like cannon fire in ‘Arsonry’, you can almost feel the perspiration pouring down Erik Wunder’s forehead as he pummels his kit into submission, almost see Phil McSorely’s fingers torn red-raw as he thrashes his guitar mercilessly.
A vibrant, thick and organic production helps enormously in bringing the duo’s sense of immediacy to the fore but also gives space to the more reflective moments on the album – ‘Dry Body’, with its slow-burn hypnotic chants is wonderfully realised while the acoustic-led interlude of ‘Throat’ is a welcome respite from the draining punishment meted out by the majority of the album. Meanwhile, the contribution of Jarboe to ‘Pregnant Insect’ (in which she reprises – whether deliberately or not - almost to a note the melody line of Swans’s ‘Mother/Father’) further serves to underline the individuality at work here. ‘Gin’ is not an easy record – it is hostile, uncaring and pretty much relentless but as a work as distinctive as it is satisfying, it is a real success.
http://www.myspace.com/eaterofbirds
http://www.profoundlorerecords.com
Frank Allain
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