Review: Cobra the Impaler – Karma Collision

Style: Stoner Metal, Power Metal, Progressive Metal (Mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Mastodon, Acid King, Elder
Review by: Dave
Country: Belgium
Release date: 29 May 2024

Supergroups are infamously hit-or-miss. Even among groups with similar members, quality can fluctuate fairly rapidly: the new millennium brought us dad rock all-timers Audioslave, whose self-titled debut presented a killer combo of Rage Against the Machine’s groovy instrumentalists and Chris Cornell’s amazing vocal work, but mid-2010s RATM-based supergroup Prophets of Rage left me conversely disappointed. Cobra the Impaler, featuring members of Aborted, Megadeth, Soilwork, and others, fall firmly in the “hit” category of supergroups, as they wowed me instantly on debut Colossal Gods with the unbelievable opening one-two punch of the title track and “Blood Eye”. On Cobra’s newest opus, Karma Collision, does Karma Collide in their favor or will they be overcome by the Colossal Gods they once conquered?

Cobra the Impaler is quintessential “arena metal” – not arena metal in the sense of Bon Jovi selling out arenas playing “Separate Ways,” but arena metal in the In the Court of the Dragon sense, where the music makes you feel as if you are trapped in a colosseum pitted against an incomprehensibly large beast. A threatening and adversarial atmosphere is conjured through mid-paced stoner grooves backed up by dire and foreboding vocal harmonies, both incorporating just enough dissonance to unsettle the listener. There is also a strong progressive undertone to Cobra’s music, as songs morph around themselves in a nonlinear fashion, creating a winning formula around hooky-yet-unsettling instrumentation given interest through ever-changing ideas. Karma Collision scoots back the direness of Colossal Gods and gives more room for progressive experimentation – virtually every song explores ideas with abandon and many moments are comparatively mellowed out.

Unfortunately, this re-prioritizing has a detrimental effect on Karma Collision: the comparative lack of hookiness compounds unsatisfyingly with a lack of thematic cohesion on the more progressive tracks, and the overall mellowing out means a lost sense of that “arena metal” edge. Even if catchiness wasn’t a priority, Karma Collision could still be lauded as an interesting listen if there was a stronger sense of songwriting. “Assassins of the Vision” is a prime example of the more frustrating aspects of this slightly unfocused experimentation: moment to moment, the track is enjoyable with satisfying vocal harmonies on the chorus and interesting drum work in the bridge, and the new sounds tried out here are without a doubt interesting, particularly the Yes-inspired vocal break halfway through, but I struggle to follow its relatively nonlinear structure, and the moments are not quite catchy enough to stick from section to section, losing themselves in a sea of decent ideas. “Blood Eye” from Colossal Gods, in contrast, works from a progressive songwriting perspective because when it changes structure, it holds on to the refrains from the first section, both giving the vocal moments in the first section more importance in the overall track and demonstrating a relationship between the beginning and ending. I would have loved to see tracks more directly relate their otherwise disparate sections to each other or coalesce into some overarching theme, but unfortunately, many moments on Karma Collision prioritize exploration over cohesion.

I don’t want to give off the impression that this is a limp and directionless release, though, as there are plenty of exciting and compelling moments. The title track contains a thrashy bridge/solo that tastefully transitions back into the yell-sung “LIVE FOREVER” refrain over the chorus at the end for a satisfying conclusion; the opener “Magnetic Hex” has an infectious verse and chorus that tap into the types of vocal harmonies that worked so successfully on Colossal Gods; and “Season of the Savage” utilizes a spacious atmosphere alongside some of the best grooves on the album to create the atmosphere I was craving coming into this album. “The Message” stands as the crown jewel of Karma Collision, though, utilizing dire harmonies over its bridge and injecting the album with a whiplash spike in energy: the speed of the track and the structure of the grooves are reminiscent of Holographic Universe-era Scar Symmetry but with a slight power metal twist. I’m very curious to see them explore this sound further, since Cobra execute it magnificently despite their stoner core. “The Message” shows that Cobra still have the teeth and the energy to make their style of stoner metal compelling and exciting if applied appropriately.

The Colossal Gods have been conquered, and in their place comes something that is ironically more experimental yet more safe. While the moment-by-moment experience on Karma Collision is enjoyable and there’s a fair share of spectacular passages, many tracks would have benefited from a more thoughtful application of song ideas, since the listening experience as a whole is marred by a pantheon of decent but unrelated musical passages. Nonetheless, I appreciate Cobra the Impaler trying out new sounds and figuring out what works for them, and I hope that in future output they can experiment freely while also staying true to the facets that make their sound exciting and engaging.

Recommended tracks: The Message, Season of the Savage, Magnetic Hex
You may also like: Pryne, Vokonis, Witch Ripper, Boss Keloid
Final verdict: 6.5/10

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Label: Listenable Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Cobra the Impaler is:
– James Falek (guitars)
– Tace DC (guitars)
– Manuel Remmerie (vocals)
– Mike Def (vocals, bass)
– Ace Zec (drums)