For a Chicago band, these guys have definitely got some bassy Southern sounding grooves. You can probably attribute that to a state boundary-defying love and admiration for Georgia's Mastodon, who've sort of blurred the lines between extreme metal and melody and watched to see which side ended up with a bloodier nose. Yes, Mastodon is the most logical band to associate Sweet Cobra with because of the tone and crunch of their guitars, but you couldn't call them Mastodon clones. Because they are Torche-clones.I won't sit and argue which group came first because it doesn't really matter; but if you're a fan of Torche these guys are pretty much guaranteed to rock your headphones nicely. They might lack some of the hooks of that group's recent acclaimed Meanderthal, but the music moves in the same direction.
Of course, just like with Torche, Helmet plays a huge part in the vocal and guitar writing. The vocals are melodic but yelled, forceful but somewhat catchy, and the music verges on metal but never gets too technical to groove out to. Even the voice is reminiscent of Page Hamilton's – but so is every voice that doesn't even try to sing.
There are other groups who helped to shape the Sweet Cobra sound as well. "Fucking Fertilizer" balances Motorhead and The Exploited pretty nicely with some of the most face-punching power chords you've ever heard. It's not the most complicated of song structures (and it kind of should be – these songs are long as hell) but what Sweet Cobra lack in surprises they make up for in aggression.
The fact that there is a song called "The Motherfucker" is worth mentioning – yeah, someone stole your idea. Plus, that makes a total of two song titles with the word "fuck" in them, which is either something awesome or something really really stupid – I can't decide. For now I will lean more towards admiration at the fact that these guys are so willingly un-radio, which always scores a point or two in my book. Come to think of it, "Jackals and Arabs" might offend somebody too.
Overall Forever is a pretty good album that could have been a pretty great album with a little more work. The songs all overstay their welcome without any real reason to keep going, but you can fix that by listening to half of everything. It might not be the most memorable slab of music you'll hear this summer (A Couple Weeks would have been a better title than Forever), but it'll be fun while you're hearing it because even if Sweet Cobra aren't ever as good as the bands they are emulating, they rock regardless.
Don't Believe Me?
http://www.myspace.com/sweetcobra
Recommended If You Like:
Mastodon, Torche, Helmet, Clouds
