Over the past couple of years Canada has proven its worth in the music industry with some incredible mainstream artists, but how’s its more underground scene doing? Pretty bloody well if King Cobra‘s self-titled debut EP is anything to go by.
Originally called McCarthy, these five Canadian guys started writing music together a couple of years ago, and amazingly penned their first release when some of them were still in high school. Their growth and progression as musicians spawned a slight change in direction, so they took to the studio and created a new sound and tighter dynamic under the name of King Cobra, and what a good move that was.
Without getting too bogged down by genres, this band are more hard rock than hardcore but definitely incorporate elements of it – as well as metal – into the five songs on this release. ‘Cancer Dagger’ and ‘King Cobra‘ (which reached number one in the Canadian Myspace charts under three separate categories) are without a doubt the strongest tracks, with their raw aggression, fists-in-the-air style gang vocals and dirty sounding guitar licks, which exude a typically Southern sound. These guys seem to be verging on the right balance between heaviness and the ever-important catchy chorus, and between brutal riffs and melody as Garth Stone’s vocals are pretty guttural at times, which gets a bit repetitive to listen to, but are broken up perfectly by the tuneful hooks.
It’s safe to say this EP’s a grower, once it’s been played through a couple of times and you get to grips with the style, the often elaborate guitar playing and foot-stomping breakdowns (once ‘Unbreakable’ hits the 1.32 mark it shows us exactly why King Cobra are getting attention) begin to flow into the fabric of this band’s songwriting. The only danger with an EP like this where every song explodes with so much energy and wicked passion is that the tracks all tend to bleed into one, making it a little tricky to distinguish between them. I’d love to see these guys showcase some diversity with their sound because from these five tracks it’s clear they have serious potential.
Martha Whatley