Cog
Just Visiting (Part 1 & 2)

Album Rating: 4.0

Part 2



[img]http://www.adequacy.net/reviews/c/covers/cog-2.jpg[/img]

Released: Oct, 2002



1. Paris, Texas 4:18

2. Stretch 5:58

3. The Truth And Other Lies 5:13

4. Pseudo 5:22

5. Just Visiting 7:02





The first dense seconds of Paris, Texas is like a continuation of part 1, but the space is quickly left vacant for this deserty sounding song. The drumming here is a lot more than it seems, I only noticed it by seeing the song live. The lyrics hint on a hoplessly lost mind, and the music is quite lonely, until something clicks and whoever's mind it is has a complete turnaround.. you'll see



Stretch is more melodic, progressive... and kind of hard to compress the description into a few lines, so I won't. It's a good piece, and lots of people seem to like this song the best from the cds.



The Truth And Other Lies... well, so much of it sounds like The Patient by Tool. Carla Werner adds some nice operatic vocals, I don't know who she is, or anything about her, but she does what she does well. The sharp change from soft and quiet to loud and heavy parts in this song is pretty cool I think.



Pseudo is a bit of a mind bender, the strange musical combination in the intro. Stays light for the first half, then a second half that is more trippy than heavy. Good stuff.



Just Visiting, would my favourite song, maybe not on cd, but it really shines as a live song. It's kind of relaxing, but also very sad. It's theme may be of armageddon, the final moments of existence for everything, ever, and all the care and hope is gone. The cries of "I am waiting for you" are really sad, it's the like dying wish of someone, just to see a loved one for the last time. It's very emotional.



__________________________

Well, my review up to this point is a collection of thoughts, observations and words thrown together with no particular structure, it's not really all that coherent. By doing this I probably haven't said much useful stuff at all.

I have done better reviews, I just wanted to talk about this cd. Personally, I think it works well split into the 2 ep's. It would have worked well if they had done it as a single album too, since that's how I listen to them.



anyway.. a quick recap:



Part 1 - harder and heavier, a good listen if you like a bit of darkness, coldness and non-standardness in with your rock. It's lacking something to bring it all together though.

7/10



Part 2 - musical twists and turns, easier on the ears, but more intense on the mind. I prefer this one as it's more interesting musically.

8.5/10



They have some interesting ideas, and I like the music quite a bit (the main thing for me, as with most songs), even if some did sound like Tool. The lyrics are generally abstract, and I suspect that some of them mean absolutely nothing at all...



So, overall.. 7.75/10 is probably a fair score for Just Visiting as a whole.





Recommended tracks - Moshiach, 1010011010, Stretch, Pseudo and Just Visiting. (Live versions of Just Visiting will probably be much better)





And hey, you can hear all those songs here:

http://www.cog.com.au/

Very good review. I remember hearing a couple of Cog songs many months ago, when I was only a few months on MX, and not being particularly impressed, but I'll probably check them out a bit more thoroughly now.

great review
I might check them out, if I can find this

[QUOTE=the2stranger]
great review
I might check them out, if I can find this[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=blueyxd]And hey, you can hear all those songs here:
http://www.cog.com.au/[/QUOTE]

Just a thought

I love Cog. I was actually almost getting around to doing this review, but you did it better than I would have. These EPs are both awesome.

Great review.

They don't sound very interesting really.

Tool rip-offs? No thanks.

Album Rating: 4.0

They're not Tool rip offs, except in The Truth And Other Lies, for the rest I would say they are just influenced by them. And their newer stuff is moving well away from the Tool sound.



also, I thought my review was pretty unfocused, I haven't even read it fully yet...

Yeah, they aren't really Toolish much at all. Just give em a go Tangy, and download 101011010. For the kids?

That is some **** good music.

I love this place always finding new bands.

They are a bit Tooly, like you said, more influence than anything.

Nah I'm really looking for any bands like this at the moment...

Next time I want a band that sounds a lot like Tool and has "prog" tendencies, Cog shall be first port of call.

On a completely unrelated note, blue, is your Soulseek name the same as it used to be?

Mr. Tangy is sarcasm king. They remind me a bit of Incubus. Anyone have these albums I could get via Soulseek? (Blue maybe?)

Cog are awesome, i love the songs Remain and Roll the Dice of No time at all. Saw em live at Big Day out, now that was an intense show.

Alright. I went and listened to all of the songs. I like them except for the singers voice. Sometimes it's really annoying in the Scott Stapp way and others it's really cool. Basically I hate it on Part I but love it on Part II. Part II really kicks the crap out of Part I IMHO. I'd buy a full album but not until I read a full review. I guess first they'd need to finish it.

Album Rating: 4.0

[QUOTE=Bartender]On a completely unrelated note, blue, is your Soulseek name the same as it used to be?[/QUOTE]

yeah, same one (that's Blueser57 for anyone else interested) I just havent been on much lately because of uni work, but now thats almost done but for one exam.. hence me doing cd reviews again.



[quote=Sgt_Baker]

Cog are awesome, i love the songs Remain and Roll the Dice of No time at all. Saw em live at Big Day out, now that was an intense show.[/quote]

I've never heard of those songs, sure you have the right band?

Album Rating: 4.0

[QUOTE=Sgt_Baker]Cog are awesome, i love the songs Remain and Roll the Dice of No time at all. Saw em live at Big Day out, now that was an intense show.[/QUOTE]



[QUOTE=blueyxd]I've never heard of those songs, sure you have the right band?[/QUOTE]



They aren't Cog songs. On p2p programs, there is a band called Course Of Nature who have stuff labelled as Cog. I think it was their original name or something. Anyway, they suck. I know this because my brother made the same mistake.



Also, I've been preferring the JV EP's to the album lately. :thumb:

I'm seeing these guys play at Stonefest. Should be killer. They're pretty damn cool. Oh, and the EP's are heaps better than the album.This Message Edited On 09.18.06

For those who can be bothered I'm pretty sure you can download the whole of Just Visiting (Parts 1 and 2) off their website for free in one of the sections somewhere. I haven't really listened to this yet but I'll get around to it probably. Their full length album was pretty good though.

Album Rating: 4.0

That is true. I meant to add them to the sputnik stream thing the other day as well, but then couldn't be bothered. I'll do it now.



Otherwise, go to http://www.cog.com.au and they are available under the Music section.

just thought you might like to know, that 1010011010 is actually binary code for 1984
which is the title of the movie/book that the opening sample was from

:-)