Rough Edge Recorded Music Reviews: Cobra the Impaler

With all the fucking sub-genres out there, it's usually easy for those who use them (I try to avoid them, if possible) to find a label to slap on a band.

Good luck doing that with Cobra the Impaler.

The ten tracks on "Karma Collision" combine so many metal genres, and defy so many metal genres, that every track on the album has its own unique identity. There are fiery leads, galloping rhythms, soaring vocals, odd breakdowns, complex and sometimes challenging melodies (that still stick in your head like peanut butter).

Yeah, I guess if you had to, you could call this album progressive metal but there's much more going on here. This is the kind of recording that offers you something new every time you listen.

My favorite tracks were the opening track, "Magnetic Hex," with its driving guitars and crushing pace; the staccato drilling of the ever-morphing title track, and the roaring fury of track six, "My Inferno," where the vocals take a turn of wickedness. The album goes out with a bang, too, with the double impact of the nearly 8-minute Track 9, "Assassins of the Vision" and the closer, the simmering "Shifting Sands."

Look, I know there are those who will read this review and think I'm wrong. They'll label Cobra the Impaler progressive metal or melodic metal or alternative metal. Whatever. Those labels don't mean shit. What means something is great rock'n'roll and Cobra the Impaler's "Karma Collision" is just that.

For more information, check out https://www.facebook.com/cobratheimpaler/.