Review Summary: Hard to categorize, not love at first site, but a brilliant full length once fully absorbed. Recommend a thorough listen via headphones in some "alone time" once you've first familiarised yourself. Classic.
I always thought Cog wore the whole "metal/hard rock" tag somewhat uncomfortably. Or perhaps it was me who was uncomfortable with it being assigned to them. There's no talk of demons or death or some other cartoonish themes which can at times plague the genre of "metal".
Yes their music has a harder edge but it's a world away from traditional metal material, lyrically at least. Stylistically there's not too much of a link to what most punters would think metal is these days either so who knows why the tag was assigned. Perhaps the complete lack of guitars, or actual instruments for that matter, on mainstream radio bewildered whomever it is who's job it is to assign these things. Think of Cog's style more along the lines of if when Dylan "went electric" and supposedly abandoned his folk roots he just kept on going.
There's real meaning and political weight behind what the boys in Cog have done here, and in the predecessor "The New Normal". If you loved The New Normal there's a chance that this follow up left you feeling a little underwhelmed. I wouldn't say I was underwhelmed at first but I certainly wasn't immediately floored by it's brilliance either. But the kicker was, after listening to it 3 or 4 times I left it be and didn't revisit it for a couple of months. When listening to again months later I'd shrugged off the weight of expectation and just listened to it. It is a real grower. So much so that I enjoy this far more than The New Normal now.
The only thing about this album I don't absolutely love is "Are You Interested" (and the cover art!). I get the whole McCarthyism lyrical content thing going on, probably more to do with sedition law amendments in Australia at the time, but it just seems a little obvious and out of keeping with the rest of the albums lyrical style.
At any rate, I love both their full lengths, this one more so than the other and I look forward to some more in the future...in vain no doubt but one can always hope.
