Chicago’s Sweet Cobra combine killer ballsy riffs with heartfelt vox to make Earth, their latest album, a unique listening experience that is easily one of the heavy highlights of 2015.
While “Far Too Temp” is the one that will initially draw you in to the Sweet Cobra universe with its riffs hitting you like a locomotive, it’s “Future Ghosts” which follows that will ultimately suck you in for good.
“Future Ghosts” is the kind of song that you plug the headphones in for, crank it as far as the knob will go, and let the hum own you for the next four minutes and twenty seconds. There’s huge chug-a-chugging riffage, a hefty drum gallop, and Botchy Vasquez’s vocals which are just the icing on the cake of this slab of musical perfection.
But that’s not all!
“He Tall He” is another riff master. Hell, they’re all riff masters on Earth. The tones, the sound, that crunch! It’s beautiful. It’s glorious! “Complaints” begins with Vasquez’s low end until a glistening, almost Failure-like, Robert Arthur Lanham Jr-played guitar enters the fray and Sweet Cobra listeners get some definitive Pop from the 3-piece.
“Flight Risk” ventures into Melvins territory and then veers off into a really trippy area. “Sunburned Suns” is riff heavy, riff fueled, just plain riffy until settling into a straight forward groove with a surprisingly epic conclusion filled with big choruses and Jason Gagovski’s thunderous skin bashing.
“Repo” is this quirky, sweet number that’s almost like some kind of update on ’50’s Pop….think The Raveonettes without the doom and gloom (“Stiff Fits” shares this mold as well). Later still, “Blue Rose” is a little Torche-y, “Old Haunts” is a nice primal headbanger while “Walls” manages to capture all the magic of Earth in one six minute little number.
Earth is out via Magic Bullet Records on July 17th digitally and July 24th physically. You can get your digital fix here or go for the hands on approach here.