ALBUM REVIEW: 666 – Cobra Spell
666’s artwork is a late contender for ‘most fitting’ cover of 2023. It depicts a buxom, blonde-haired woman wearing a preposterously skimpy outfit grinding on top of the Devil, and we can’t tell if they’re engaging in kinky knife sex or she’s torturing him. Maybe both. They’re being watched by a giant black snake and there’s an apocalyptic landscape in the background. It’s cartoonish, camp and massively over the top. It’s perfect for COBRA SPELL.
An all-female glam metal act led by guitar heroine Sonia Anubis (formerly of BURNING WITCHES and CRYPTA), the band are relative newcomers but have already caught the eye of Napalm Records. This debut full-length is brash, fun and feels like it’s arrived a couple of decades late. Had 666 come out in the 80s, it would have sat comfortably alongside the likes of MÖTLEY CRÜE and POISON and COBRA SPELL could have been arena fillers. They’re going to have a harder time of it in the 2020s, however that doesn’t diminish how entertaining this is.
Opener S.E.X. lays their cards out quite blatantly. It’s loud, obnoxious glam metal and it’s shameless fun. Mercifully though, despite the in-your-face attitudes, COBRA SPELL don’t come across as a parody act. There’s a definite STEEL PANTHER air about them, but they’re not making knowing winks at the audience or sprinkling their songs with shock-humour. This is glam metal that doesn’t have a get-out clause.
666 also manages to cram a lot of catchy hooks into its runtime. Love Crime is a fast-moving hard rocker, The Devil Inside Of Me is a good old-fashioned ode to teenage rebellion and Satan Is A Woman is a pounding, measured number. They’ve all got choruses that’ll be lodged in your front cortex for days, and even the obligatory ballad is entertaining.
Yes, it’s cheesy as hell and if you’d prefer your metal to be harsh, violent and down-to-earth, buddy this ain’t for you. However, if you see no problem with excess, depravity and randy people clad head-to-toe in leather, COBRA SPELL could be your new favourite band. It’s got some great musicianship too; the guitar work is consistently good but the stand-out might be vocalist Kristina Vega. She’s got a lot of power in those pipes.
If 666 has any drawbacks, it’s that it maybe sticks to genre conventions too much. The energy, the hooks and the musicianship make it very likeable, but at the same time it does come across like a throwback. Songs like Warrior From Hell might still scare the most evangelical corners of middle America, but otherwise this kind of material is more cheesy than terrifying now. It doesn’t have the grit it would have done 40 years ago and some folks will find it cringeworthy. Plus, while the songs are good, they don’t have anything quite on the standard of Shout At The Devil yet.
That may come in time though and these are minor complaints. 666 is an accomplished debut and while it is a bit throwaway, it’s a party while it lasts. A couple more records like this and they’ll be force to be reckoned with.
Rating: 8/10
666 is out now via Napalm Records.
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