Cobra Skulls

Agitations

Written by: PP on 10/11/2011 04:09:37

If there ever was a band on Fat Wreck Chords that summed up the sound of the label on one album (who isn't called The Lawrence Arms), that band would be Reno, Nevada's Cobra Skulls. Their third album "Agitations" combines the semi-catchy, straight forward Fat Wreck punk sound with squeaky clean production, a southern feel and snotty punk vocals in the vein of mid 90s NOFX. The songs are semi-catchy, but not overtly so, with pop left to a side role while melodically ringing guitars take the lead.

It's all very simple, but it's also effective. A song like "On & On" displays the band at their best, mostly because it sounds a lot like Swingin' Utters, but also because it features driving tempo and an infectious chorus with just the right amount of pop as to not go overboard (like Against Me!)...of which "The Mess" is an unfortunate example. The chorus is just super annoying on that one.

Dead To Me and The Lawrence Arms are the other obvious references here, and really, that's all you need to know about "Agitations". It's so simple and textbook punk rock that you can't go out of your way describing it, but know this: it's not catchy enough to be remembered by this time next year. It's merely decent, with a couple of great sing alongs (those mentioned in the Download section below), however, it also contains a number of anonymous tracks that are so if for no other reason than being, err, generic punk rock. While they might strike you as good songs as individual tracks, they are forgettable in the long run because Peralta's voice remains unchanged throughout the whole album. So while "Agitations" is a representative of the sound on Fat Wreck, it's not quite up there in terms of quality.

Download: Iron Lung, On & O , The Mockery
For the fans of: Dead To Me, The Lawrence Arms, Swingin' Utters
Listen: Facebook

Release date 27.09.2011
Fat Wreck Chords

Cobra Skulls: Iron Lung by Fat Wreck Chords

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