Review: Year Of The Cobra ‘Year Of The Cobra’

Seattle’s much-heralded doom, power-duo Year Of The Cobra return with their first release since 2019’s Ash And Dust, the tremendous new self-titled album, which was produced by Seattle’s legendary producer Matt Bayles (Botch, Isis, Mastodon, 1000mods, etc). From the second the listener hits ‘play’ it’s immediately evident that the time between releases, a healthy six years, allowed Amy Tung Barrysmith (who’s now also in Slower, along with Fu Manchu’s Bob Balch, and Monolord’s Esben Willems) bass/vocals and Johannes Barrysmith on drums to further hone their sound and songcraft, which, coupled with Bayles’ awesome production, propels the duo’s sound to new heights.

The band have long possessed a healthy, distorted, bass and drum doom rumble, that was deftly complimented by Amy‘s powerful, yet ethereal vocals, but on Year Of The Cobra, everything is kicked up a notch. Their signature characteristics, the fuzzed-up rumble, Johannes‘ stellar, yet seemingly underrated drumming, Amy’s riffs along with her amazing vocals, all of it is colossal sounding. Fuzzy and distorted, yet crystal clear. Year Of The Cobra’s songwriting has made a quantum leap as so much of the record is all at once impossibly catchy, overflowing with emotion, yet still as heavy as hell.

Opener Full Sails displays the band’s trademark, a Monolord-ish doom march that we’ve come to know, with the bass sounding fuzzy, heavy, warm and thunderous, which is more-than-capably backed by the massive drums that hit with the force of Thor’s hammer that’s completely earth-shaking. Couple this with a towering low-end wallop, you have an awesome sonic dichotomy that works fantastically well.

This is followed up by the absolutely infectious rumble of War Drop, which is all at once impossibly catchy and lyrically timely, as Amy is clearly waxing on the violence the world is currently experiencing, but doing so with both an amazing vocal delivery and an ear-worm main riff which is propelled by Johannes Herculean pummel.

The next two tracks show their jump in songwriting chops. Starting with Daemonium, the duo proffer a killer, bouncing, driving  main riff and an insanely catchy vocal delivery, that’s propelled by a hefty drum battering. The track boasts a duality as the music and vocals are completely catchy, but the dark lyrics about confronting a sexual assaulting predator deftly conjure conflicting emotions. It’s an awesome song, but with disturbing lyrics that are sung with both melody and conviction.

the bass sounding fuzzy, heavy, warm and thunderous, which is more-than-capably backed by the massive drums that hit with the force of Thor’s hammer…

Alone is next up, which is probably the most emotionally epic song that Year of the Cobra have written thus far. It features a melancholic bassline that’s complimented by heavy, rolling yet subdued drums, but it’s the vocals that take the track to the next stratosphere. Amy takes it up a notch, letting it all hang out, really showing her range and emotion in the delivery. In an alternate universe, make no mistake, this would be a massive hit, it’s that good.

7 Years finds the pair accelerating the rock pedal with a head-bobbing, push-and-pull main riff and soaring vocals backed by the ever-present rollicking thwack holding down the rhythm. Meanwhile, The Darkness brings the doom back in force, initially with a hefty rumbling bassline and plenty of bash and crash, before melting into a graceful verse as Amy sounds like some kind of floating doom angel, ascending into an epic, soaring chorus before the crushing riff comes hammering down again.

The penultimate Sleep keeps the doom-march vibe going but with plenty of twists and turns, while closer Prayer is the grand, melodic-yet-heavy and somber closer this album deserves. The vocals are at one heart-wrenching and triumphant, while the instrumentation is colossal, emotional, crushing and cathartic, the perfect exclamation point to this jaw-dropping album.

Needless to say, Matt Bayles’ fingerprints are all over this album as he brought the best out of the duo, helping them take their songs to the next level. His production, as always, is killer, with everything sounding crisp, yet distorted, and at times distant, as he strikes a damn near perfect aural balance across the eight tracks. It is still very early in the year, but I would be shocked if this album didn’t wind up on many year end lists. I’m confident it’ll be on mine.

Label: Prophecy Productions
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram

Scribed by: Martin Williams