Some bands just have a good thing, Know what makes them great, and they build continuously on those strengths. South Africa’s L.A. Cobra released their debut album How much snake can you take? back in 2010 and it was reminiscent of the early 80s hard rock bands that inspired them, and yet they had their own spin on it. A big part of that is the vocal style of singer/ guitarist Don Cobra who sounds vocally like a mixture of Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe, Taime Down of Faster Pussycat, C.J Snare of Firehouse, and Mike Tramp of White Lion. Their second album Shotgun Slinger arrived in 2017 and took their sound further, with even bigger anthems. The album also featured backing vocals and mixing by Martin Sweet of Crashdiet.
As great as those two albums are, L.A. Cobra’s latest album Superstition is next level stuff. Martin steps in as producer, Mixing, Mastering, and backing vocals. The difference in production quality shows, their past two albums are great but from a production level they were more raw sounding, Superstition has a huge sound in comparison. The album starts out with “Strange Desires” which features lead vocals by L.A Cobra’s lead guitarist Slade, This song reminds me a lot of Martin’s side project Sweet Creature and Slade even sounds quite a bit like him vocally. “Nothing like a nemesis” starts out with a guitar riff that reminds me of Judas Priest ” you’ve got another thing coming” before going straight up Ratt meets Firehouse, the rhythms and leads on this song are excellent. On the other and “The Star” reminds me of early 80s Scorpions and Quiet Riot, honestly this song could be thrown in with a playlist of old songs from that era and you’d never know it was new, the only thing that’d give it away is the sound quality.
The title track again evokes comparisons to Ratt but these guys really have their own spin, this song is mid tempo but no less an excellent rocker, Definitely one of the best songs on the album. “Untamed” is a raging beast of a song that I’d LOVE to hear live, this is L.A. Cobra really kicking down the door, a viscous rocker with hard hitting rhythms and chord progressions, this might be my favorite song they’ve done to date.
“I want more” sounds very inspired by early Mötley Crüe and Dokken, the higher production level and mixing quality on this album really lets this bands rhythm section shine, the bass tones played by Ewil Honey are rich and the Drumming by Callie the animal hits with that huge drum sound you want from bands like this.
“Chemical Dependency” has a bass melody that gives me slight Tool vibes but the rest of this song is classic L.A. Cobra and has a really good mid tempo guitar solo.
“She’s my prison” reminds me quite a bit of Generation Wild era Crashdïet, just flat out awesome fast, driving sleaze with another awesome guitar solo. Lead singer/guitarist Don Cobra sings like a banshee on this album and has in my opinion only gotten more vocally powerful through the years, he proves that’s he’s not only a great rock n roll singer but is among the more unique vocalists in the modern movement.
“Inferno” starts out with a mellow clean riff before kicking in with faster distorted riffs, the song alternates between mid tempo melodic parts and heavier and faster progressions. The guitar solo on this song is incredible. “Kill” ends the album and is Ratt meets Skid Row sounding, this is a pretty anthemic way to end the album, you’ll be shouting “whoa, yeah!” Along with Don at the chorus while raising horns to the band and loving every second of it, this is a song that hooks you into the replay immediately after you’ve finished the album.
L.A. Cobra have always been a good band, but with Superstition they stepped it up to another level. The songs here are well written and very well played, the great balance of the sound mixing really allows the entire band to shine both individually and collectively. In a year with loads of incredible albums Superstition is among those that should be owned by every fan of great rock n roll.
You can buy the CD through the bands Facebook page HERE.
9/10