{"id":93137,"date":"2022-03-31T00:00:19","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T23:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=93137"},"modified":"2022-04-05T14:16:09","modified_gmt":"2022-04-05T13:16:09","slug":"ep-review-cobra-spell-anthems-of-the-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/ep-review-cobra-spell-anthems-of-the-night\/","title":{"rendered":"COBRA SPELL – Anthems Of The Night EP (2022) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

COBRA SPELL
Anthems Of The Night EP<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nSelf-released (2022)<\/span>
Rating: 6.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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As a perfect advertisement for a heavy metal clothing catalogue, European rockers Cobra Spell returns to the fray with a new four-song EP, complete with cringe worthy video for lead single \u2018Addicted To The Night\u2019 and enough smoke to blow up its own arse. \u201cIt’s just like the 80s\u201d screamed their new teenage fans\u2026 but it isn\u2019t. Even so, Cobra Spell can be commended for releasing another solid offering – Anthems Of The Night<\/em> coming two years after 2020 debut EP Love Venom<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Cobra Spell, like so many contemporary pretenders, try their best at replicating every band that existed before they were born, whether it\u2019s M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce<\/a>, W.A.S.P., Judas Priest, Scorpions, Dokken\u2026 the list is endless.<\/p>\n

The aforementioned \u2018Addicted To The Night\u2019 is standard copycat rock fare featuring nice licks, nifty melody and slightly irritating vocal whine from Alexx Panza (Hitten) who is so metal that he needs two xx\u2019s in his name! But sarcasm aside, while Cobra Spell is doing nothing new, the energy, especially within the axe work of Sonia Anubis (Crypta), has to be admired.<\/p>\n

However, this is the sort of dressed-up rock that people quickly outgrew by the tail-end of the 80s, and surely to return to such prehistoric glamour would be easier by just slapping the old vinyl back on the turntable. Anyway, as I said, this is standard metal played with a passion, fuelled by the fiery percussion of L\u00e9onard Cakolli.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Midnight Hour\u2019 begins with a cool George Lynch-style strut, where hints of funkiness and swagger give way to flashes of Whitesnake married to Skid Row. It’s catchy yet derivative. People may argue with my comments, but is this anything different to what, say, Steel Panther has been parodying for years? Alexx Panza displays power and once again Sonia Anubis provides extra steel, but as Panza yelps \u201cwe\u2019re gonna party all night\u201d<\/em>, I really don\u2019t feel the need to join in.<\/p>\n

\u2018Steal My Heart Away\u2019 is further generic, yet uptempo rock. It\u2019s airy, enthusiastic, but familiar combing a wide range of late 80s fluff n\u2019 frills without claiming any identity in between.<\/p>\n

Finally, \u2018Accelerate\u2019 begins with token engine rev before embarking on a sturdy path built upon the foundations of Angelina Vehera\u2019s strong bass and that double axe attack, lashing to the rhythm of Esm\u00e9e Van Sinderen and of course Sonia Anubis\u2019 whips. Again, it\u2019s all very fiery, homing in on Priest with its drive, but when I look back over the years at the sort of albums and EPs that truly whipped me into a frenzy, Cobra Spell\u2019s latest platter is hardly going to replicate or even come close to mimicking such nostalgia.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure the kids will love it, but for me Cobra Spell haven\u2019t even painted, let alone kicked down, the fence I\u2019m currently sitting on in regards to their bog standard bashing.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COBRA SPELLAnthems Of The Night EP Self-released (2022)Rating: 6.5\/10 As a perfect advertisement for a heavy metal clothing catalogue, European rockers Cobra Spell returns to the fray with a new four-song EP, complete with cringe worthy video for lead single \u2018Addicted To The Night\u2019 and enough smoke to blow up its own arse. \u201cIt’s just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4762],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-cobra-spell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93137"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93141,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93137\/revisions\/93141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}