Black Cobra

Criminally underappreciated during their greatest activity in the ’90s, the final dissolution of sludge metal saviours Cavity unquestionably spawned some of the finest noise rock bands of the 21st century: Floor, Dove, Torche, and now Black Cobra. Their debut full-length Bestial is a grand improvement on 2005’s three-song EP, as this album is a true juggernaut of down-tuned doom, grind and aggro-addiction. It’s even harder to believe that this is merely a two-piece — Cavity’s Jason Landrian on guitar and vocals, and -16- bassist-turned-drummer Rafael Martinez — yet they coax from their instruments more venom and vitriol than most bands do in an entire career. Guitar fuzz has grown to thick shag here, as the opening trinity of evil — "One Nine,” "Thrown from Great Heights” and "El Equis” — unrelentingly plough through speaker cones with utter disregard for life itself. "Beneath” begins with muted Chinese-styled chords before collapsing in a dark, Iron Monkey haze (later reprised in "Broken on the Wheel”), and the Melvins-esque "The Cry of Melora” breaks into a hardcore gallop halfway through. Screamed in Spanish, "El Doce de Octubre” resembles a more tortured Brujeria, but "Sombra de Bestia” slithers in like Harvey Milk. "Kay Dur Twenty” wraps it up with Martinez’s fast-forwarded tempos and Landrian’s rippling riffs and throat-scarred vocals. On par with Torche, Black Cobra are the multi-headed swamp hydra, nefariously lying in wait for unsuspecting metalcore weaklings.