Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
Seattle duo of all-things musically outside of the norm, Year Of The Cobra, just issued their latest mark-making studio effort today, Oct. 27th. Titled the ‘Burn Your Dead‘ EP, members Amy Tung Barrysmith (bass, vocals) and Jon Barrysmith (drums) are definitely on a fiery roll. That roll is rounded out by the pair’s ability to craft intensely diverse, multifaceted music that refuses to adhere to a singular styling.
Produced like their 2016 STB Records debut full-length, ‘…In the Shadows Below’, by Billy Anderson (Sleep, Neurosis, the Melvins, etc.) at The Type Foundry in Portland, Oregon, the new EP is a further delving into outside-of-the-box diversity. Whether it’s the ambient, creepy sampling worked into the opener “Cold,” the progressive atmospheric rock of “The Howl” or centerpiece “The Descent”, reaching new heights of melodic accomplishments is job one… and a job well done.
With Tung’s vocals fueling the uptempo punker thrust of the gang-shouting title-track “Burn Your Dead“, and the finalé “And They Sang”, these two cuts are perhaps some of the heaviest territory traversed by the duo yet. The former rolls out with a bit of fuzz-heavy instrumentation before careening off the rails with a maddening frenzy of intense music. Jon pounds out a rhythmic pace akin to a barreling locomotive while Amy’s hazy, angst-driven vocals possess plenty of venom within them.
The latter number, the EP-ending “And They Sang“, starts with some melodic, distant-sounding tranquil music before it too breaks all hell loose. The pair play off of each other’s musical presence, seeming to trade-off licks and lacerating sonic slices between them. The occasional ethereal quality of certain vocal parts is like a cue that what’s about to come next will pummel your face to the floor.
With their ‘Burn Your Dead‘ EP, Year Of The Cobra ignite an inferno of semi-punk rock fierceness. It roasts with incendiary nuances of new wave-ish overtones and undeniable stoner psych doom contents under pressure. When they combust, it all combines for one raging bonfire of the calamities where the doom is so true that it shall immolate you upon hearing it.
‘Burn Your Dead‘ EP – title track video below – was released today (October 27th) via Magnetic Eye Records. Purchase through Bandcamp now at this location.
