Nights Like These-Sunlight at Secondhand
(Victory Records, 2007)

After a hard hitting yet somewhat typical debut album, Nights Like These have shed their skin and are back with a much more dynamic and original sound. This is an intense ride of heavy guitars, sludgy grooves and a surprising amount of melody. Theyve taken a metalcore base and mixed in hints of Cave In and Isis and have certainly changed for the better if you ask me.

The debut album was much noisier and a whole lot faster. This new album is much more organic sounding and the album flows much better. They have left out of a lot of the spastic elements and have a much more controlled approach with this album. There are still flairs of dissonance, but this is a much slower overall album with much more memorable songwriting. The songs have mammothly heavy riffs and owe a surprising debt to Black Sabbath at times. There are still a lot of chugging riffs but as a whole this album certainly has helped the band rise above being just another metalcore band.

The production is fairly raw and has a surprising depth. The band has put a lot of layers and nuance into the album and the album manages to keep the layers all audible but stay heavy and raw at the same time. It reaches a nice balance between clarity and heaviness. A dirtier guitar sound really helps the bands new sound come across like a ton of bricks. The grooves are huge and hit with tremendous force. This is simply put, the perfect sound for what the band is trying to achieve with this album.

This is definitely in a much different direction then I would have anticipated and I love every second of it. The band has reinvented themselves and are distancing themselves from the clich and tired metalcore sound. If you enjoy bands like Mastadon and Cave In, this is definitely for you.

Madball-Infiltrate the System
(Ferret Music, 2007)

Madball is a band that offers few and surprises and that is exactly what fans of the band expect. They dont want the band to deviate from their formula, they want slab after slab of metallic and chunky hardcore that only Madball can provide. This is an album that will certainly please long time fans of the band and bring new fans on board in the process.

The easy way to describe this album would be to say it sounds like Madball. If you have heard the band before you know exactly what to expect. If you are new to the band, you can expect a mid-tempo approach with chugging metallic guitars and powerful vocal shouts. It is a New York hardcore sound through and through and it packs quite a punch.

What really stands out about this album is just how damn catchy the entire album is. Each song is packed with memorable riffs and vocal patterns that stay consistent with the bands trademark approach. You could almost call this the bands Scratch the Surface. Each song is hard hitting but just a bit different yet consistent from beginning to end. Its tough to say if this is the best album so far from Madball, but it certainly is close to it.

If you are a Madball fan youll be all over this album. If you are a fan of New York style hardcore and you havent heard Madball, there is no time like the present to learn what you are missing out on.

Black Cobra-Feather and Stone
(At a Loss Recordings, 2007)

This is one of those albums that you sit down to write and the words just seem to get stuck. The album is so heavy and interesting that when you try to describe it nothing seems to really do it justice. Mammothly heavy guitars clash with barbarically simple drumming topped off scathing vocals and a dark sense of majesty. Its ugly yet beautiful and it hits you hard.

At face value you could almost say the band sounds like the bastard offspring of Unsane, Black Flag and Black Sabbath. The mammoth grooves remind you of the godfathers of doom, but the urgency and chaos present brings to mind vintage Black Flag. The overall approach is similar to a band like High on Fire, but the songs are shorter and hit with a lot more gusto. I like that the songs are shorter than most bands in this genre. They keep the songs to the point and even though there are some soundscape elements, the songs never become slower then they need to be. The pace is always brisk and movie forward.

The production is dirty but massive sounding. The guitar tones are incredibly thick yet allow the subtle nuances of the riffs to come through very clearly. The vocals are a bit low in the mix but I think that is the sound the band was going for. I think they might be a bit distracting if they were any louder as they come across more like another instrument the band employs than a typical vocal approach. This really isnt the type of album you turn to for memorable vocal lines.

Black Cobra has recorded one hell of an album with Feather and Stone. The album has colossal grooves sure to please all fans of doom, yet isnt afraid to throw in majestic passages that can only be described as beautiful. This is full of surprises and easily one of the best albums At a Loss has ever released.