Cobra Spell are a hard rock band from the Netherlands formed in 2019, founded by former Crypta and Burning Witches guitarist Sonia Anubis – the band has released two E.P.’s to date, ‘Love Venom’ (2020) and ‘Anthems Of The Night’ (2022). Alongside Anubis are Kristina Vega (vocals), Noelle dos Anjos (guitar), Hale Naphtha (drums), and Roxy Herrera (bass) – ‘666’ the band’s debut full-length album released in 2023…
…featuring the classic sound of sleaze rock/metal harking back to a glorious time during the eighties when bands such as Skid Row, Ratt, Faster Pussycat and Cinderella ruled the roost! ‘666’ contains twelve metal-edged hard rock songs across an energetic and highly bombastic fifty minutes – everyone as gorgeous as the five young ladies in the band! ‘666’ opens with the one-minute instrumental ‘666’, building an overly tense atmosphere of anticipation for what’s about to come…
…the fast-paced and highly energetic ‘S.E.X.’ – blazing a fiery trail across the land, the band deliver a red hot and innuendo-laden romp of sassy sleaze metal! The tingling sensations I’m feeling right now are incredible – partly due to the superb old school nature of the music, but largely due to the erotic undertones within the song’s lyrics! An absolutely barnstorming start to the album, Cobra Spell roars on with the more mid-tempo but nonetheless emphatic ‘Satan Is A Woman’. The sleazy, bluesy approach is dreamy, the five-piece oozing sensuality at every twist and turn of ‘Satan Is A Woman’. Back in the good old eighties, sleaze metal was very much a male-orientated arena – how times have changed eh! And for forty-five sultry seconds, ‘Hotline 666’ echoes a “recruitment” hotline for those premium rate phone lines that used to begin 0898 – or so I’ve been told! ‘Hotline 666’ is recruiting “bad girls” for the ‘Bad Girl Crew’ – a thumping blues-drenched swagger that oozes everything great about the metal come-rock style of music. The kinda metal come rock that was prominent during the glorious eighties when (nearly) every band was labelled as heavy metal – years before the myriad of sub-genres we have today came into play and divided everyone!
And believe me – I should know! I grew up in the eighties when metal music was evolving, listening to the greats of the genre and getting excited by just how fucking fantastic a feeling you get from the music – the same feeling I’m getting right now listening to Cobra Spell‘s newest release. Since the album began, my legs have turned to jelly, my heart to mush, and my pulse rate rising higher than the Westpoint Tower in Tilburg – a blistering turn of speed setting the world on fire, ‘The Devil Inside Of Me’ firmly pressing the pedal to the metal! The iconic gallop of pioneering metal band Iron Maiden comes to the fore, Cobra Spell perfectly echoing the classic sound of old-school heavy metal. Old school heavy metal that’s still one of the greatest sounds ever invented, ‘The Devil Inside Of Me’ oozing it in abundance. Are Cobra Spell a retro band I hear some of you cry – no fucking way! They’re just a great fucking band delivering an incredible array of hard rock and heavy metal – ‘Fly Away’ moving into the realm of melodic metal come hard rock. The variation on offer is eclectic, every song as beautiful as the band’s founder Sonia Anubis – ‘Fly Away’ emanating a sky-high infectious level, Kristina Vega’s voice as intoxicating as it is mesmerising.
‘666’ (the album) is turning in a “can’t stop listening” performance, the album standing tall and proud in hard rock territory for ‘Love = Love’, occasionally dipping its toes over the border wall into heavy metal. The band’s meld of metal and rock is phenomenal, switching seamlessly from one to the other with ultimate ease – ‘666’ (the album) quickly becoming one of my favourite albums of the year. And Cobra Spell is one of my favourite bands too – the music, the founding guitarist, and quite frankly the entire line-up, oozing beauty in abundance! And there’s the pounding foot on the monitor gallop once more, ‘Love Crime’ accelerating hard, roaring down the autosnelwegen at top speed! The fast and feisty nature of ‘Love Crime’ is amazing – in fact, every song heard so far has been amazing, Cobra Spell is one of the most exciting bands around at the moment. The energy is incredible, the infectious level off the charts, ‘666’ (the album) one of the year’s biggest surprises, and surely a strong contender for the Album Of The Year title.
And shuddering the ground with immense force, ‘Warrior From Hell’ is a wall crumbling, foundation-shaking march of metal-edged hard rock! Cobra Spell is hitting harder than a heavyweight boxer, flattening everyone and everything in sight, the band’s undisputed power and panache reaching heights never seen before! And returning the bluesy swagger heard earlier, ‘You’re A Cheater’ is a fierce and fairly vicious hard rocker oozing an in your face attitude! The band have hit hard all album long, the level of consistency smoother than sheet ice! And believe me when I say I don’t need any ice to fall – fall in love with the band that is! Cobra Spell have me under their incredible spell – a spell that has me in a tight grip without any sign of letting go any time soon! But why would I wanna be let go when the music on offer is this fucking good! I must be high on love or something – the album is coming to a close with the red-hot love song ‘High On Love’. Yes – a love song, and it’s not a ballad either! ‘High On Love’ is the kinda song I would love to sing to my lover – not that I have one at the moment! Just take a look and listen to some of the lyrics – “I knew that you were the one since the day we began seeing each other” and “You got me head over heels in love with you”. Maybe one day I’ll find that special someone I can serenade with ‘High On Love’ – if only I was thirty years younger, I’d be outside Sonia’s house right now singing “Baby can’t you see what you’re doing to me, you’re turning my world upside down”. I can dream, can’t I!
Overall, an energetic romp of metal-edged hard rock, ‘666’ is immensely infectious and a hundred percent loveable.
TRACKLIST
666
S.E.X.
Satan Is A Woman
Hotline 666
Bad Girl Crew
The Devil Inside Of Me
Fly Away
Love = Love
Love Crime
Warrior From Hell
You’re A Cheater
High On Love
Six Foot Six: Facebook
Release Year: 2023
Label: Napalm Records
Category: Album
Country: Netherlands
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire and Metal-Roos.
