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COLD STEEL "Discipline & Punish"
COLD STEEL "Discipline & Punish"
By Dr. Abner Mality
There's a buzz surrounding this Tampa band. I sometimes hear them compared to the likes of POWER TRIP and DEAD HEAT. Well, the promise is there, but they have a long way to go to match that level.
The press sheet describes them as "aggressive metal" and I can't argue with that. There's a lot of thrash here but also hardcore and doses of street rap and melodic diversions. Diversity is something to be appreciated, but this album often has a feeling of tossing everything at the wall and hoping it sticks. One good thing is that the aggression is no joke...there's real anger here and singer Jose Menendez sounds like somebody killed his family and he's out for revenge. It's a very street level kind of vocal...not smooth, but authentic for sure.
They smack you right upside the head immediately with "No Escape" and "Protocol", which I would describe as "thrashcore"...equal elements of thrash and hardcore. They like their breakdowns, which sometimes sound kinda tired. The whole scene is saturated with breakdowns...it's almost a relief not to hear them. I started taking COLD STEEL seriously with the song "Blacksmith of Damnation", which is a real threat to neck health. This has a lot of DEAD HEAT vibes. Next few tunes like "Vantage Point" and "Return to Agony" follow suit.
The last third of the album sees COLD STEEL trying to diversify their sound. "Fever Dreaming" is much more melodic than what's gone before, with even some synth tones added. "Smoking Mirrors" has some glitchy techno sounds and pure rap vocals which do little for me but then I make no secret of disliking that genre. Last tune "The Coldest Death" is very somber, with more keyboard accompaniment but still some aggressive moments.
This is kind of a jagged album, with some sharp edges and some not so sharp ones. There's enough here to make me look forward to future COLD STEEL endeavors.
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