With former members of Cavity, Acid King and -16- , Black Cobra return with album number two of grimy, rumbling, tumbling metal for fans of Torche, High on Fire, Hail!Hornet, Negative Reaction, Kylesa and such.

So yeah, if Mastodon were girthier, nastier and far far sludgier, you might get close to Black Cobra’s sound, a sound that crumbles and lopes but never veers into stoner doom territory instead being the crustier, bluesier, distant cousin of angular angry and atonal hardcore.

The Eight swift tracks (plus 3 CD-ROM videos) blow by in a blurry, stop start landslide of pussy riffs with the debris all ending up in the gutter (“Five Daggers”, “Below the Cusp”, “Red Tide”, “Swords for Teeth”). Then, as is par for the course in 2007/2008 there are the necessary injections of post rock ambience as heard on “The Sapphire Falcon”, “Thanos”, and standouts “Dragon and Phoenix” and “Ascension”.

While all tracks sneer and lumber with aplomb and fittingly gravelly vocals, none of it really turns me on despite its gnarly, antagonistic tones and more subtle atmospheric hues. Also, the whole affair is over in such blustery and brief 25 minutes or so, its like getting your first Blowjob-It was over before you knew it, and you are pretty sure you enjoyed it, but you were a little weak at the knees

[Visit the band's website]

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