Cobra Skulls - American Rubicon

Nevada’s own Cobra Skulls are back, with a new full-length in 2009. Sitting Army was a fantastic effort, and has come to be one of my favorites of the past few years. Can the lightning strike twice? Especially on a 17-song album, in which only one song title contains the words “Cobra” or “Skull?” (“I Used to Like Them Better When They Put ‘Cobra’ In the Titles,” a roughly 30 second instrumental)

Well, the album winds up with “Time and Pressure,” and after a slow intro, the song is a quick-paced punk number that seems like a logical extension to the Sitting Army material. So far so good!

The follow-up, “There’s a Skeleton in My Military-Industrial Closet,” adds more of a rockabilly feel to the proceedings, and this is perhaps the biggest shift from the more straight-forward punk rock of their earlier material. The addition of this to their sound really helps set them further apart from their peers, in the best way possible. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the songwriting here is as strong, if not stronger than, that found on Sitting Army.

There aren’t any songs entirely in Spanish on this album, though “Thicker Than Water” has an entire verse in Spanish. That’s one thing that’s kind of a downer about this album; their songs in Spanish, while I admit to not understanding them, are awesome, and I like the change of pace it brings. I understand that not all material is, perhaps, best served by singing in another language, but it added some interesting variety to the music. Plus, watching kids try to sing along at the show was a good time.

Lyrically, the band continues to focus on the world around them, global and local, with songs like the aforementioned “Skeleton,” “Muniphobia,” “Overpopulated,” and several others. The topics are handled with their trademark mixture of outrage and humor, not always in equal proportions. The choruses are catchy as hell, and wonderfully sing-along-able.

This album is, I say confidently, one of the best things I’ve heard this year. These guys continue to get better and better with each release. If you enjoyed Sitting Army or the “Never Be a Machine” 7″, you should already own this record.

Cobra Skulls - Sitting Army

The Cobra Skulls hail from Reno, Nevada. The last two bands I paid any attention to (good or bad) from that state were the Killers, and Panic(!) at the Disco. The Killers are alright, but Panic? Not a strong showing from NV, though admittedly both of those bands are from Las Vegas. But if that’s what the Nevada music scene produces, what does it mean for these guys, whose name only reminds me of Cobra Starship, a thoroughly mediocre band (dear Gabe- reform Midtown).

That was a pretty awesome intro, right? Moving on.

Well, the Skulls know how to rock out. Their previous efforts, the Eat Your Babies and Draw Mohammed EPs, were faster and looser than this album; they’ve clearly sharpened their attack between EPs and album.

The first thing you will notice, though, are the titles of the songs. Every one incorporates the words cobra, skull, or both (“Cobra Skullifornia,” “Don’t Count Your Cobras Before They Hatch,” “I’ll Always Be a Cobra Skull (Folk Off!),” etc.). Now, if you’re worried this is reflected in the lyrics, making this little more than a novelty joke album, don’t fret! While “The Cobra and the Man-Whore” namechecks their favorite serpent in the title, the actual line in the song is “the preacher and the man-whore.” The song is about the saga of infamous Evangelical preacher Ted Haggard. The aforementioned “Don’t Count Your Cobras…” is a short (less than 2 minutes) song about the tendency of people so concerned with stopping abortion that they neglect the suffering of other, already-born people. So, clearly, despite the jokey nature of the song titles, the Skulls have some serious issues to talk about.

Of course, ths music is important here, and the band knows how to play some quality, catchy punk rock. They keep things light and bouncy, going acoustic on “I’ll Always Be a Cobra Skull (Folk Off!)” and “Cobracoustic.” And, like any good punk band, they don’t waste time on long solos or such things; the album’s 13 songs clock in at a respectable 29 minutes. All in all, this is a great debut LP from a band that shows a lot of promise.