GIN

"Gin" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US, Colorado based post black metal act Cobalt. "Gin" was released through Profound Lore Records in March 2009. The preceeding studio album "Eater of Birds (2007)" showed great promise and although the 2008 "Landfill Breastmilk Beast" EP left me rather disappointed (as a consequence of the inclusion of a nearly 30 minutes long ambient track), I´ve still been waiting for the release of "Gin" with great expectations.

The music on "Gin" fortunately continues down the post black metal path of "Eater of Birds" and develops that style further. There are still loads of raw black metal parts and caustic raspy vocals on the album but the post metal elements that were already a part of the soundscape on "Eater of Birds" have become even more prominent on "Gin". A track like "Dry Body" fully embraces post metal. It contains chanting vocals and tribal drumming. There are many great features on this album like the high compositional quality and excellent sounding production, but the thing the impress me the most about "Gin" is actually the drumming by Erik Wunder. He is such a skilled drummer and his busy drumming keeps the tracks exciting throughout. Cobalt is a two-piece act so in addition to handling the drumming in superior style Erik Wunder also handles vocals, bass and guitar. His companion Phil McSorley handles vocals and guitar. Jarboe (Swans) guests on a couple of tracks too.

So all in all "Gin" is another great post black metal release by Cobalt but like the case was with "Eater of Birds (2007)" I still don´t think "Gin" deserves a full 4 star (80%) rating. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating will do for now. No matter what the rating is "Gin" is a great album and the combination of post metal and black metal works really well for the band and provides them with a unique sound.