Sometimes, yesterday's rivals become today's allies. That's certainly the case with metal and punk; although there was considerable animosity between the metal and punk scenes in the late '70s, the two became major allies in the 1980s and have been working together for the greater good ever since. There have been countless ways of combining metal and punk, ranging from thrash metal to death metal and black metal to alternative metal. And in the case of
Sweet Cobra, the metal-punk assault comes in the form of a sound that is about 70 percent stoner rock and sludge and about 30 percent hardcore.
Forever isn't doom metal, and it isn't full-fledged grunge either. But the sludge factor is undeniably high on this 2006 recording; much of that sludge comes from stoner rock, and this Chicago-based band clearly shares grunge's appreciation of
the Melvins. Now, here's the thing:
Forever is much angrier than typical stoner rock releases are known for being. On forceful, angst-ridden tracks such as "The Motherfucker," "Road Born Orphan," "Spider Scraper," and "Chopping Block," Botchy Vasquez's lead vocals are oozing with rage -- the sort of rage one associates with old-school punk bands like
Black Flag,
the Circle Jerks, and
Fear as well as the early hardcore bands that came right after them. So one could say that while
Forever is certainly relevant to stoner rock and sludge metal, it isn't traditional stoner rock, but more a hybrid of stoner rock, sludge, and early hardcore.
Forever isn't quite as consistent as it could have been, but there are enough memorable tracks to give listeners a generally worthwhile dose of metal-punk aggression. ~ Alex Henderson