As much as I love my thrash, death, and power metal, sometimes I need to decompress with some good old fashioned brainless glam metal. I’m convinced that the best cure for depression is not endless pharmaceuticals and court ordered therapy, but rather W.A.S.P.’s self titled debut, Ratt’s Out of the Cellar, and Dokken’s Tooth and Nail, just to name a few. Seriously folks, “Round and Round” SOUNDS like a dog wearing sunglasses on the beach, and if that image doesn’t instantly bring a smile to your face, you’re heartless.
On that note, it pains me that the modern crop of glam metal bands has been thin as of late. Sure, nothing will touch those ’80s landmarks, but sometimes I like to hear a refreshed spin on the genre aside from Hitten every two years. Enter CobraKill. Hailing from Germany (yet sounding nothing like Teutonic overlords Scorpions and Accept), these leather-clad bad boys have been raising hell since 2020, or at least that’s what their press release claims. It was just this past month that they slithered their way into my inbox, courtesy of my friends and yours, Frontiers.
Having not explored CobraKill’s back catalog (an EP and a full length), I can’t draw comparisons between it and their latest album, Serpent’s Kiss. That said, I mostly enjoy this effort. Is it occasionally bogged down by tired clichés and album filler? Sure, but which retro metal/hard rock albums aren’t? Middle of the road glam metal cuts like “Razor Blade” and “Seventeen”, as well as the Zeppelin flavored “Hungry Heart” (“Baby, baby, baby” anyone?) are inoffensive, but pale in comparison to this album’s high moments, and there’s no shortage of those.
Among these highlights are the opening “Above the Law”: A raw, fire-powered glam metal rager in the vein of early W.A.S.P. and Enforcer. It’s total headbanger mania that boasts tubular riffage and an aura of L.A. hedonism, the latter two characteristics proving crucial to this album’s success. The AOR undertones of “Bazooka” and “Concrete Jungle” recall the melodic bliss of Dokken’s accessible side, while the aptly titled “Same Ol’ Nasty Rock N’ Roll” and the closing “Velvet Snakeskin” prove the band can still crank up the heaviness and hang with the big boys. My choice cut of the bunch is easily “Torture Me”, which stands head and shoulders above the rest with its cryptic dark glam riffs akin to George Lynch and Mick Mars. The chorus is a total earworm as well.
While Serpent’s Kiss would be even sweeter with some fat trimmed off for the sake of consistency, I can’t complain over what I’ve got. CobraKill sound as if they crawled up from a Sunset Strip sewer after a 40 year hibernation, and they look like it too. I look forward to hearing how they expand upon this charm and charisma on further releases. Back in the ’80s, most of these bands sold out and went the MTV friendly pop metal route come album #3. Will CobraKill do the same? I sure hope not. That “Same Ol’ Nasty Rock and Roll” is too damn good.
6 out of 10
Label: Frontiers Records
Genre: Glam Metal
For fans of: Mötley Crüe, Ratt, W.A.S.P.