Black Moth Super Rainbow

At the beginning of 2012, Black Moth Super Rainbow announced on their website, "We're back!" Leaving fans confused by the implication that the Pittsburgh, PA quintet ever left in the first place. After three quiet years that saw band members release solo LPs, head honcho Thomas Fec (aka Tobacco) scrapped Black Moth Super Rainbow's expected full-length before recording Cobra Juicy, sans band members, with the help of an overwhelmingly successful Kickstarter campaign. Now nearly three-and-a-half years after their last LP, the rather languid Eating Us, Black Moth Super Rainbow's fifth release may not be their most resourceful work to date, but it's undoubtedly their most sublime. Packaged on a USB stick jammed into the mouth of a menacing, wearable latex mask, or as lenticular 3D vinyl, Cobra Juicy keeps the band's yin/yang splendour intact. Leadoff single "Windshield Smasher" sets the tone as Fec's honey-drenched melodies seep through Black Moth Super Rainbow's compulsory vocodered-sound, while supported by hand-clapping, gum-smacking synth rhythms. As Fec flirts openly with hip-hop beats ("Hairspray Heart"), country slide-metronomics ("We Burn") and stoner-rock pacing ("I Think I'm Evil"), everything on Cobra Juicy ends up filtered through bent-pitch optics, leaving the listener with gestalt-infused delicacies that come off exceptionally gooey on the inside, but obstinately crusty on the outside.