Misc. Day – Killing Fields

Through the albumin paper toned with gold that surrounds the cover arts of Cobalt, they frequently explore these backwoods and historical tones that somehow transpires effortlessly into metal. With pigments of dull forest greens, harsh dirt browns, and yellows that bleed off the Rorschach, Slow Forever is nearly an hour-and-a-half of burning insolence through cavernous calls.

Where misery is etched into blackened vinyl, Cobalt is essentially this animalistic hunter that through just two members, brings a full storm of ruin. Both Erik Wunder who plays all instruments featured on Slow Forever, and vocalist Charlie Fell are intertwined in this study of just how much the human body can absorb. The first track is eager, but building grace with a formidable death. As these guitar strings that buzz, there is somehow emotion of despair that washes over the listener. Every second spent with Slow Forever is about the give and take methods that Cobalt truly masters.

“Hunt The Buffalo” is crafting and performing an autopsy, dissecting the instrumentation piece by piece until the walls of noise clash alongside a raging behemoth. And this behemoth nature ties into their shrills and howls disguised as lyrics that describe, “Open teeth bare to all, lines drawn. Blood and bone not unlike a person, I am not a man. I am not a man.” Cobalt becomes at times through “Hunt The Buffalo” this orchestral entity with deeply layered movements and while chaotic, the battle plans are traceable back to a river of power.

Flowing through the often incredibly long run-times of tracks in a hardcore-sense, one of the pieces that hits nearly the ten-minute mark holds high regard to hell. “Beast Whip” is this tension that builds and eventually begins to overflow, causing the foundation to slip away and become cracked through pressure. Describing, “In dreams, I bury you in my veins… Scrapped from the throat of a wounded child. Pull me out of my body, the pigs run wild.” While immensely vague, the writing style is poetic but shrouded in misery. Almost every lyrical push mentions this inevitable end where life itself becomes vanquished.

Showing this external practice of funeral marches, the longest track on the record, “Final Will” puts death on a pedestal with these swarming guitars and percussion that engulf the listener from the very start of the track. As the thrash mentality starts to hit a groove, this manslaughter through music comes like an angel, somehow beautiful even when draped in utter uncertainty.

Some of the strongest lyrical displays are featured here and are vivid engravings on the mind. Illustrating, “Iron to steel, steel to rust. Rust to dirt, dirt to time… The return of misery to the open lands is the only law. The hunter is the final judge, hail cruelty the unspoken truth.” And as the last carcass begins to fall to the wayside, somehow Cobalt is the monster in the trees that is developed entirely from one’s own fear.

They look different to everyone, never showing a real face that is able to be digested at just one glance. But every time that Cobalt appears from those woods of the mind, they bring a harvest of red and misery.

Listen To Slow Forever Here!!! – BandCamp/Spotify/Amazon/iTunes