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Cohol: Deepend flaw in the dark
12/05/11 || Khlysty
As we have already established in previously uploaded reviews, DroneBone Khlystermeister has a special affinity towards all things Japan-o-Metal. Which is exactly why yours truly picked Cohol’s first record from the pile of “review-‘em-or-die” cd’s that da Lord pushes to our faces every month and from which comes the biggest piece of “this-is-shit” reviews that you (probably don’t) read in GD.
In my mind, the Japanese have a VERY quirky approach towards metal; that is, while they can be as trad as anyone –see Loudness for reference- their metal underground produces bands with a totally idiosyncratic sound, that cannot easily be pigeonholed, as the bands seem to love to mix and match wildly differing styles and ideas. Cohol is no exception, as they seem to create their totally individual sound by a crazy brew of death/black/power/prog/grind that swoops, screeches, crashes and regenerates with fear-inducing ease.
The nine songs that comprise “Deepend flaw in the dark” (and, please, can someone explain to me what the fuck the album title means?) mix equally prog black/death with a more streamlined approach towards grind and the band’s experimental/progressive tendencies, to create a cauterizing but imminently bang-worthy whole. This shit is easily head-scratching as it is head-bangable and mosh-friendly.
Each song is based around a clearly-defined melody that’s contorted, sped-up, slowed-down and generally fucked-around, while alfuckingways retaining its basic shape. And, then, there are the slow-black-via-Porcupine Tree excursions; the clean-picked, acoustic details; the massive breakdowns; the screeched/rasped vocals; the insanely tight drumming; the guitar pyrotechnics; the fantastic production, that renders everything clear and punchy.
Look, I won’t say that this is the best-ever record that I’ve listened to. But, I’ll tell you this: if more metal bands displayed the talent, experimentation, ideas and pathos of this Japanese trio, then da Lord wouldn’t have to declare on top of this site that “metal deserves better”, ‘cause this better would already be a reality.
- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Satire Records
- Website: Cohol MySpace
- Band
- Itaru: vocals, guitar
- Hiromasa: vocals, bass
- Kyosuke: drums
- Tracklist
- Ah, yes, the tracklist: the record contains nine songs. All the titles are in Japanese. I couldn’t even copy-paste them here. Sorry…
