I haven't followed this "war metal" style closely at all. Cobalt mix black metal and thrash metal to achieve the extreme atmospheres when singing about many faces of wars. 'War Metal' is the debut full length album from this two-man band hailing from Colorado, one of the leading states in deaths due to lightning. Welcome to geography class, by the way. Okay, enough of that crap, let's get back to the real shit now...

'Hammerfight' explodes into action right from the start. Ripping thrashing with buzzsaw guitars, high velocity drumming and demonic vocals (piled vocal tracks and some effects utilized) is what occurs, which then slows into a part introducing some lead guitar melodies. But the surprise is what comes next: Acoustic guitar part, all calm and actually even beautiful, with some electric guitar ambience underneath. I think the song is closely following lyrics, which sadly aren't printed. 'Angelfangs' trample further into the black metal field and the velocity is retained, even increased as 'Raise the Hammer of War' shows, as it's the 2nd wave Norwegian aural hell where the BM influence have been snatched from. 'World on Its Knees' return to heavy metal thrashing and 'Summoning of Napalm Mists' mixes the both with carnage-like savagery. I think I should throw forth the name Absu, as especially the all-round drumming here remind me of this North American horde. I happened to spin the new Primordial platter just before this, and 'Lunar Warfare's pagan melody work is somewhat similar to Irish horde's melodies. Black metal epic 'Empire of the Moth' closes the album with style. There's welll over 5-minute songs included, but they work well and do not stagnate.

'War Metal' does bear quite mystic cover art. There's a lighted tree and some kind of a phantom horse on the front cover. The booklet has a 5-piece photo story of an encounter between two guys and a stranger looking like an alien. As mentioned, the lyrics are sadly absent. Production-wise this is okay, heavier low end than black metal albums usually, probably due to thrash metal elements. But the sound is a bit too frowzy, even though the elements are still audible in the mix. It is good that drums are real, but sadly also the weakest link on the album, thanks to their asynchronism. And snare drum sound a bit flat and powerless among this sonical violence.

A nice surprise from a totally unknown band to me. Cobalt do not invent anything new here, but their black/thrash alloy is pretty well done, it is powerful and grim when needed, too, making this an enslaving experience as a whole.

Rating: 6½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
11/24/2007 19:50