Black Cobra

Drummer Rafael Martinez and guitarist Jason Landrian have been pals for a long time under the South Florida sun. Landrian´s early exploits occurred in the early ´90s with a quasi-riot grrl band named Dorothea Dix while Martinez spent most of that time fine-tuning his skills on a multitude of instruments...

By Abel Folgar

November 17, 2005

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Drummer Rafael Martinez and guitarist Jason Landrian have been pals for a long time under the South Florida sun. Landrian´s early exploits occurred in the early ´90s with a quasi-riot grrl band named Dorothea Dix while Martinez spent most of that time fine-tuning his skills on a multitude of instruments. His work runs the gamut from the electronica-punk of Monochrome to the indie Pointe Blank to stoner rockers Gammera and finally with the power-violence hardcore of California´s 16, as well as a stint in the San Francisco offices of Alternative Tentacles Records. Landrian gigged and recorded with the final lineup of Miami´s greatest heavies, Cavity.

Now, a few years later, the two friends find each other again as cross-country collaborators with Black Cobra — a guitar-driven, machine-gun-drummed, jacked-up blues-riffage bomb of a duo. Landrian´s guitar work is massively chunky on this three-song EP, with switched-up tempos varying the requisite downtuning. Martinez´s drums are surprisingly explosive; he punishes the skins for maximum effect while riding a muted line on the cymbals. His madness on the kit adds a nice element of creepy paranoia to the opener, ¨Interceptor,¨ where the fellas´ voices rip in like distant reverberating echoes. ¨Fall and Fall Again¨ is an almost military barrage with metal tinges. While touring may not be feasible for them, they do occasionally make it onto some stages across the USA. Usually, they destroy them. This disc is available from the band´s website, www.blackcobra.net.

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