Monday, August 6, 2012

KOBRA AND THE LOTUS: "S/T"

Rating: RRR
Label: Spinefarm 2012
Review by Alan Holloway

Despite sounding like an 80’s kids cartoon, Kobra & The Lotus are actually a Canadian heavy metal band, fronted by the rather attractive Kobra Paige, who is also the brains behind the band itself. This self titled album is their second, and pulls off the same old school metal tricks as their 2010 debut “Out Of The Pit”, with subtle improvements scattered about.

Kobra & The Lotus are, at heart, a modern mash up of classic Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. They even put the album together at Steve Harris’ farm, and I reckon he must have loved it. The single “Forever One” demonstrates this amply, with Maiden riffs building up to a classic Priest chorus, Paige’s vocals perfectly skipping between Dickinson’s wail and Halford’s scream. There’s absolutely no doubt that this band are proper old school metal, and they don’t care who knows it. When they fly, such as on “Heven’s Veins”, they fly high, with catchy, heavy guitar fuelled metal. The band seem very much in sync, and Paige really does have a great voice for this sort of stuff, strong and clear without any growling or grunting. On the downside it can all get a little yawnsome after a while, and I found it hard to keep my enthusiasm levels up for the whole album.

Overall, this is a solid metal album that could use a little work in some of the compositions. It’s one of those you buy because you love the single, but find that it’s one of a handful of great tracks that nestle amongst some more average ones. Either way, this is a band to keep an eye on, because when they hit the sweet spot they’re going to make some big waves.
Website

No comments:

Post a Comment