Cowards - Rise To Infamy review
| Band: | Cowards |
| Album: | Rise To Infamy |
| Style: | Black metal, Hardcore, Sludge metal |
| Release date: | February 09, 2015 |
| A review by: | Ilham |
01. Shame Along Shame
02. Never To Shine
03. Frustration (Is My Girl)
04. Beyond My Hands
05. Birth Of The Sadistic Son
06. Low Esteem
07. Anything But The Highroad
08. Wish For Infamy
09. Bend The Knee
10. So Easy
Incipit in media fucking res.
That's Latin for "start in the midst of things". The bit of Latin is the fanciest I'll get in this review, because Cowards don't do cute introductions, and they didn't suddenly turn into a quintet of jazz crooners either. Indeed, they are releasing another piece of filth they titled Rise To Infamy come February. So filthy you wonder if they asked the pressing company to press excrements and bits of broken glass in their vinyls to go with the music.
The Pusillanimous Five play a signature blend of sludge, hardcore insanity and black metal. Unexpected screams, relentless bass, grainy and strident guitar tone, over-present cymbals; all of which slowly build up to create a wall of noise. Their music never sounds pleasant - because it's not supposed to. Everything in the production was made to keep the taste raw and yet make every bit of instrument easily distinguishable. Not too long, not too short, within the forty minutes of Rise to Infamy, you get an equal portion of psychotic bursts of violence as well as mid-to-slow tempo chunks of pure, unaltered malaise. Consistent, yet varied enough, but without a clear direction, the ride is bumpy and stomach-upsetting - and I mean that in a good way.
With this second release, Cowards seem to have matured their sound. Yeah, when you hear they matured, you must be thinking they calmed down a little. Haha no. Thankfully, it's actually the complete opposite. Rise To Infamy displays a level of dementia I've never heard in their previous works. The black metal elements, the very noisy feel, as well as a more precise - yet grainy - production are new additions that enriched their sludgecore base. As if the whole band got mugged and molested in one of those dark and damp alleys of outer Paris after the release of their latest EP in 2013.
Rise To Infamy is probably best described as audio-rape anyway. Whether you want it or not, it's still going to force itself upon your ear-drums, because it's streaming in full and downloadable free of charge.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 9 |
Written by Ilham | 22.12.2014
Comments
Comments: 16
Visited by: 113 users
| Frodd Account deleted |
Frodd
Account deleted
I kind of feel like the score doesnt correspond to the tone of the review 
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161  |
Written by [user id=114127] on 22.12.2014 at 12:03 Haha. It's a fetish of mine. I verbally abuse the person I am in bed with, I tend to do the same with the albums I like.
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| Frodd Account deleted |
Frodd
Account deleted Written by Ilham on 22.12.2014 at 12:09 Makes sense now
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| Spirit Molecule spirit molecule Posts: 1918  |
Damn! Didn't realise how long I have been away for, till I saw reviews from Ilham  ThroatRuiner have some really intense bands, should give these guys a better listen
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by Spirit Molecule on 24.12.2014 at 15:53 Hehe yeah I wrote quite a few since you went lollygagging in Sweden . Throatruiner (and Deathwish) really have the best bands indeed. If you listened to anything these guys put out before, you'll love it, maybe even more than the previous releases.
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| Spirit Molecule spirit molecule Posts: 1918 |
Written by Ilham on 24.12.2014 at 16:07 Haha, yeah I've heard love sex machine and cortez off them and a couple more that I can't recall. I just noticed how many you had written. You've been a busy little bee! I haven't just been lollygagging, as you call it, I've been super busy, but I guess that's a good thing. Maybe I'll be in France next year on tour, if all goes as planned
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by Spirit Molecule on 24.12.2014 at 16:14 I know I know, just kidding. I hope you get to do another tour, you seemed to have fun. Maybe we'll be able to share a beer that time, we just had a problem of synchronity this time. If you liked Love Sex Machine, and if you like this, I'd say the next two you should listen to are Harm's Way and Fange. I can't see anyone hating that after liking LSM.
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| Zap Posts: 3577  |
That opening line alone made me interested to hear this . The rest of the review is good too though.
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by Zap on 03.01.2015 at 18:21 Was it the Latin or the profanity ? Thanks, if you like your sludge to be blackened and dirty, and don't mind hardcore vocals, this should hit the spot.
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| Zap Posts: 3577 |
Written by Ilham on 03.01.2015 at 18:25 It was the combination of both  I don't listen to that much sludge to be honest, but the blackened aspect will likely play in its favor. First I gotta check out that other recommendation of yours though.
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by Zap on 03.01.2015 at 18:52 If I knew that I wouldn't have recommended The Body :/. I'll correct that with a future rec'.
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| Zap Posts: 3577 |
Written by Ilham on 04.01.2015 at 02:43 It's ok it's not that I don't like sludge, I just haven't explored it as much as other metal genres, but when the time comes sludge metal will just "click" with me and I won't have enough of it.
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| Susan Smeghead Elite Posts: 6941  |
My first time with this band. I was a Cowards virgin until just now. And it was gooooood. Definitely started out hearing the sludge and then, just as you say, they pick up the hardcore then slow down the tempo, repeat, repeat. Great combo of these things I didn't hear as much black metal but the "sludgecore" did enough for me. And the widely varying tempo did the music a lot of favors. Like you say, it's scattered; the changing tempos seem to SOMEHOW tie it together and make it the slightest big cohesive. Way fun.
---- "A life all mine Is what I choose At the end of my days" --The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by Susan on 16.01.2015 at 05:54 Very happy you liked it, it isn't the easiest stuff to get into. Glad we see the same things in it as well. The black metal is more "obvious" when you compare their début with this one. It certainly isn't the biggest component, but the general sharper guitar tone, and some parts are typical of some dissonant black metal acts of the late 2000s. So not really your typical black metal elements in any case haha. Just from memory, the third and sixth song illustrate it pretty well, if you're willing to go back to it just to hear it .
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| Susan Smeghead Elite Posts: 6941 |
Written by Ilham on 16.01.2015 at 12:12 Oh, go back I will! I did hear it a bit of black metal on one of the songs near the end but will certainly pay attention to the tracks you mentioned. I had a dirty sludge phase a few years ago with TOAD, Lurk, and a few others. This is different but will nonetheless fit in with that party. Delicious.
---- "A life all mine Is what I choose At the end of my days" --The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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| flightoficarus Stamp Tramp Posts: 1116  |
Another good recommendation.
---- Daily underground metal recommendations at Metal Trenches. Watch metal content on the Metal Trenches YouTube Channel.
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