Sweet Cobra is a band that is easy to trust. They've got strong past ties to one of the most consistently impressive niches of the heavy music world in Seventh Rule Recordings and Hawthorne Street Records (taken one step further in that Hawthorne Street owner Jason Gagovski is also the rhythmic backbone of continually overlooked Suicide Note) and their first three releases were pretty damn stellar. And in knowing that Sweet Cobra's approach was never much of a secret -- just mix stoner rock with sludge metal and keep it cranking along at a steady hardcore pace -- and thus, not likely to undergo a dramatic shift, we should all be setting our sights on securing a copy of their latest record, Mercy.
Everything offered up on the disc's eight tracks is simply a more refined, more memorable version of what they've done in the past. The riffs are more monstrous and tighter than before. The vocals are more melodic and harmony-conscious. The tempos and grooves, aided by wonderfully tom-heavy drumming, set up a more driving pace. Quite frankly, it's just unbelievably catchy, which when merged with all things heavy, is fantastic.
You can think of Mercy as Sweet Cobra's step into the Torche and Big Business area of crisp, melodic heaviness, though it's more akin to the mentality of the In Return and Head for the Shallow era of those respective acts. And as both Torche and Big Business evolve into something increasingly pop-friendly (albeit along entirely different evolutionary paths), it's valuable to be in Sweet Cobra's position, a near-perfect blend of maximum distortion and memorable melody.
As such, I'm going to pronounce this as Sweet Cobra's finest record to date. Lead-off track "Brux" instantly reveals Mercy's songwriting goals as it churns through an excellent pair of alternating riffs, sharply delivered vocal harmonies, and an up-tempo groove relentless enough to make you spill your tallboy and be totally okay with it. There are other enjoyable approaches -- the faster, more punk leans of "Crusader" and "Wounded Parade" or the slightly softer feel of "Silvered" -- but the meat of the album is in the "Brux"-like moments. Luckily, there are too many to list, so just trust your blind love of the riff on this one.
On a more somber note, Sweet Cobra guitarist Mat Arluck
passed away late last year before he could hear the praise for such an exemplary slab of metal. Mat, you will be missed.
Bottom Line: Sweet Cobra's pummeling yet catchy auditory manifesto on big vocal harmonies and bigger riffs is the band's best to date, and so it will follow, a no-brainer for best of 2010 lists. I love it.
amazing