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Cobalt: Eater of birds
12/05/09 || Khlysty
While still soaking up “Gin”, Cobalt’s newest record, I thought it would be a nice idea to review for the venerable GD their previous record, the one that propelled them into the limelight of modern american metal and got them lots of fans everywhere. “Eater Of Birds” was and still is one of those records that a few years afterwards would be considered as one of the high marks in metal, as it has all the proper ingredients that make metalheadz salivate (unbridled power and ferocity, great instrumental prowess and interplay, subtle but really-there hooks), while still pushing the envelope into interesting and, sometimes, amazing territory.
First of all, let me tell you a couple of things about Cobalt: they come from Greely, Colorado and they are a duo, with Phil McSorley on vocals, lyrics and guitars and Erik Wunder on everything else (guitars, bass, drums, backing vocals, synths, coffee-making, etc). One point that has to be made is that McSorley is an infantryman for the US Army, currently stationed in Iraq, which means that the band operates only during his leave; also, it means that his lyrics, often dealing with war and its consequences on humans, come from the point of view of an insider, a guy whose business is basically killing other people. This aspect was more apparent in their first record (aptly called “War Metal”).
The band’s main musical i.d. lies within black metal (that means lots of tremolo-picking, blasting and screeching), BUT as “Eater Of Birds” progresses one would be surprised to find that McSorley and Wunder never seem scared to boldly experiment with other subgenres, be it with acoustic ambient codas (“Ritual Use Of Fire”, which appears thrice during the record, and “Androids, Automatons and Nihilists”, enhanced by a vocal perfromance from Swans’ casta diva Jarboe), thrashy breaks (e.g. the middle part of “Blood Eagle Sacrifice”) and/or almost Neurosis’ use of dynamics and tribal “vibes” (check out “Whitherer”, or “Invincible Sun” to believe me…). The songs skip the usual trappings of black metal and move into strange and strangely satisfying realms, giving the record an overall feeling of being much more than the sum of its parts.
Wunder, who’s responsible for most of the songwriting and playing, is really a wunderkind (ha,ha, wasn’t that fucking genious of me, using the guy’s name to make a pun with a german word so as to praise him? What? You didn’t get? Oh, fuck off!!!), pilling riff upon devastating riff, bashing his drums like there’s no tomorrow and adding here and there little great touches of atmospherics, builing an intricate canvas of virulent power, upon which McSorley can go ballistic, screeching in typical black metal fashion lyrics like “I follow the shifting shadow of the master, He never walks any slower and never any faster. ‘Drape me in unliving flesh, and smear shit into my eyes’”. Pure romance, if you want my opinion…
So, generally speaking, “Eater Of Birds” is great. Of course, there are a few shortcomings: the three appearances of “Ritual Use Of Fire” suck a little of the record’s forward-propelling motion. Also, the bass is almost inaudible and I FUCKING LOVE good bass (ok, this is supposed to be a black metal record, so what the heck, I can deal with its basslessness…) and McSorley lacks the dynamic range of great black metal screechers and sounds a little bit same-y throughout the songs. But, fuggitalltahellandback, this is really cool. It’s powerful, ugly, beautiful, smart, well-produced, intelligent modern metal by a band ready to leap into uncharted territory and reap whatever lies there. If you like great music, “Eater Of Birds” is one choice that’s unmissable…
8,5 great american black metallers out of 10
- Information
- Released: 2007
- Label: Profound Lore Records
- Website: Cobalt MySpace
- Band
- Erik Wunder: drums, guitars, bass, synth, vocals
- Phil McSorley: vocals, guitars
- Tracklist
- 01. When serpents return
- 02. Ulcerism
- 03. Ritual use of fire
- 04. Blood Eagle Sacrifice
- 05. Witherer
- 06. Ritual use of fire
- 07. Invincible sun
- 08. Androids, automatons and nihilists
- 09. Cephalopod
- 10. Ritual use of fire
- 11. Eater of birds
