Dig if you will, a picture: it’s nighttime in Los Angeles, CA, circa 1984. City lights and billboards line the sides of the Sunset Strip as you cruise through in a sleek black Corvette with the tops off, your hair is blowing in the breeze of the warm night. Sidewalks—groups of people and rock ‘n’ rollers walking up and down, making their way to the Cat House, to Gazzarri’s, the Whiskey A Go-Go, the Roxy, then the Rainbow Bar & Grill. Taking it all in, the stereo’s locked onto KNAC 105.5 playing the soundtrack to the night: Cobra Spell’s Love Venom.
Cobra Spell formed in mid-2019 by guitarists Sonia Anubis and Sebastian “Spyder” Silva. The band boasts a lineup that’s comprised of members and former members of other well-known international bands like Burning Witches, Idle Hands, and Hitten. Under the new moniker, Cobra Spell, this five-piece outfit comes together and really comes through with a killer of a debut EP.
Stylistically, the music takes most of its cues from the electric sex of the Sunset Strip during a bygone era. But it’s not like the band is attempting to recapture a period for nostalgia’s sake. The songs on Love Venom are very much at home in 2020. And it’s not because of some supposed revival or fly-by-night throwback trend either. That notion is played out. holding the sonic elements of ‘traditional’ sounding heavy metal strictly to one decade.
Just because artists employ sounds and approaches to rock music that were popularized in the 1980s doesn’t mean they’re endeavoring to resurrect the past. Guitarists who use finger-tapping and whammy bar squeals aren’t trying to bathe in the nostalgia of Eddie Van Halen’s “Eruption” or anything like that. It’s the same difference, really.
Cobra Spell’s potential is evident. Love Venom almost immediately declares itself a formidable debut by the time they get to the first chorus of the opening track, “Come on Tonight.” Singer Alexx Panza throws down the gauntlet right off with a soaring scream that quickly matches the high register of the accompanying guitar. If not before, then “Poison Bite” really recalls an image with sun-soaked days and outright lust-fueled hedonism by night. The title track is the closest they come to a ‘power ballad’. It’s got a slight unorthodox step-down in progression that occurs in the chorus which has a cool little surprise of a change-up. If movement happens to be your thing, listen up for some ear-catching sexual grooves on the closer, “Shake Me.”
The structuring and arrangements of the songs deserve their fair credit for keeping things interesting. Thought and intention within the constructs help keep the music away from the danger of being formulaic. Layers within in the music provide the songs with full sonic dimension in ways that a lot of bands of their ilk don’t easily accomplish. It’s all about just having real creative substance, of which Cobra Spell has plenty.
Cobra Spell will likely be one of the more buzzed-about heavy metal bands of the year. The potential they’ve got for distinction and prominence is already showing. They’re the kind of band that can carry on tradition with accuracy and remain unique and contemporary, bringing truth to their sound all at once. There are so many lesser bands in the mix today. But sometimes the cream does rise to the top and that’s the case with Cobra Spell. Love Venom is one of those ‘ground floor’ releases, the kind of record to grab now before their star begins to rise and you look like just another band wagoneer.
COBRA SPELL ONLINE: OFFICIAL / FACEBOOK / BANDCAMP
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