Album Details

• Artist: Black Cobra
• Album: Invernal
• Label: Southern Lord
• Year of Release: 2011
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2011-09-21

The latest from Black Cobra can only be their greatest, because this is a band that seems to always improve on its punishing formula. "Invernal" continues the guitar & drum duo's relentless take on metal, incorporating doom and drone with punk attitude and Marshall Stack worship.

The first three tracks are almost absurd in their power and wall of muddy sound, with "Corrosion Fields" probably the most noisy. A cool mellow solo break provides a brief break in the maelstrom on "Beyond," but overall there is no letup on any of the eight tracks. "Abyss" is probably the best track, as it extends some of the main riffs of the other songs and turns them inside out, a song that is both hypnotic and brutal.

Guitarist Jason Landrian also does the vocal duty, and his shouted drawl evokes classic rock but with a harsher bite; drummer Rafael Martinez does the impossible as always, that being keeping up with Landrian and doing his own pummeling. Their interplay on the massive "Avalanche" is one of the best moments of recent metal.

"Invernal" breaks no new ground for Black Cobra, but that means nothing. When a band has found a sound that jars, entertains and feels like it is just as liberating to play it as it is to hear it. That maniacal glee of being able to raise such a racket is evident in everything they produce.

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