They're a two-piece band with roots that extend to CAVITY, SECRET ORDER OF TUSK, and ACID KING, and album art demonstrating a proclivity for ghastly creatures, tentacles, sharp beaks, and reptilian scales. It's no surprise that their latest disc found its way to our mailbox.

"Feather and Stone" simply clobbers the listener into submission with unpredictable surges of hammering percussion, enormous buried-in-the-red guitar thunder, and occasional passages into serene, chiming melody. Drummer Rafael Martinez vigorously drives cuts like "Below the Cusp" and "Red Tide" to excel as some of the year's most ferocious metal with his smash-everything approach. The disc's final tracks "Ascension" and "Swords for Teeth" vault from raging HIS HERO IS GONE-ish roar to a hypnotic, bell-like interlude before leaping back into the frenzy for the finale. This sonic achievement would be impressive for a four-piece; as a two-piece performance, "Feather and Stone" is simply colossal. Fans of metallic sludge and doom take note; there's a new creature on the scene.

- Marchman

OFFICIAL SITE: www.blackcobra.net

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