A new wave of black metal? (Gin - Cobalt)

Member Name: dangaroo

Product:	Gin - Cobalt
Date:	12/06/09 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Innovative, some clever guitar work

Disadvantages: Not that easy to get into - a bit indulgent

This album which features a very melancholy and different album cover of an photographed soldier seems to be gaining a lot of plaudits this year. I decided, I had to have a listen. It's eclectic and dark with harsh vocals and drumming that ranges from intense to subtle.

The acoustic guitar starts to the tracks are rather impressive and my favourite track is probably "Dry Body" which is hypnotic, sounding like an ancient chant, really very dark indeed. One of the band members is depoloyed in Iraq and it seems like this experience has surely effected him to come up with something as black as this. There are a lot of black metal bands that seem to be just going through the motions but Cobalt are quite different, with an emotion-filled aura and brutalness that is rarely heard. This is a unique piece of music, not very commercial but it could prove monumental to the future of black metal and is definitely one of the more innovative 2009 albums.

Stomach as a furious slasher style of playing like the band Macabre. The critics may pan its pretentiousness but I do find it a bit arty and over-indulgent. It has its moments but like a lot of groundbreaking work is not actually that appealing to the majority of listeners.

1 Gin
2 Dry Body
3 Arsonry
4 Throat
5 Stomach
6 Clean, Well-Lighted Place
7 Pregnant Insect
8 Two-Thumbed Fist
9 Old Man Who Lied for His Entire Life
10 Starved Horro

Summary: A monumental album that's tricky to appreciate