Cowards are from France and this is their second album. They play a brand of Hardcore that’s a blend of Sludge and Black Metal.
This is the kind of discordant, ugly, abrasive, extreme Hardcore that I absolutely love. Throw in a Blackened Sludge influence as well and you’ve a love affair just waiting to happen.
Well, actually it’s been happening ever since I discovered their début album really, but this new one affirms it.
Cowards incorporate interesting ideas and riffs into their aural assault and every song brings something slightly different to the table.
The granddaddy of this style is, of course, the mighty Converge. Cowards take the template laid down by the masters and dirty it up with Sludge and Black Metal influences until it’s firmly their own. I like a band that stamps their own identity on the style of music they choose to play; Cowards do this with jackhammers.
Toweringly slow, blisteringly fast, chuggingly heavy, Blackly aggressive, sadistically spiteful…I could go on. Suffice to say that Cowards have created an album that’s heavy and extreme in all of the right ways.
And have I mentioned the riffs? There are some choice ones on here. Slow, fast, atypical, angular, you name it.
The singer is appropriately intense throughout. This kind of music needs a singer who sounds like he’s about to lose it and explode into a fit of violence and this is what we get.
Great stuff. If you like music that’s heavy and aggressive you’ll love Cowards.