Cobra The Impaler
Karma Collision – Listenable Records
Shades of Metallica and those heady days of more cerebral early thrash spring to mind when the first notes of ‘Magnetic Hex’ hit your ears. The staccato beats and persuasively energetic tempo continues throughout with some well nuanced guitar work coming to the fore. The vocals are interesting in that they don’t stay one dimensional at all and we get clean (with heavy fry) mixing classic growling for effect and also some nice harmonics too (pitched akin to early Alice In Chains). The aptly titled ‘Eye Of The Storm’ does what it says on the tin, it’s a 60 second burst of oasis like ballad which lets you catch your breath. Karma Collision is complex in many ways but an easy listen too. It offers a lot of variety but has elements within the writing that binds it into a cohesive set of songs. Metalheads looking for something new that isn’t directly trying to melt your face should give this impressive album a spin.
Review by Gary Trueman