HAMMERFIGHT

"Hammerfight" is an EP release (and the debut release) by US black metal act Cobalt. The EP was originally self-released in 2002 but was re-released by Pestifer Records in May 2003. On this release Cobalt is a two-piece act consisting of Erik Wunder who handles drums, vocals, bass and guitar and Phil McSorley who handles vocals and guitar.

The music on the 4 track, 21:48 minutes long EP is raw and quite noisy lo-fi produced black metal. The musicanship is pretty good and especially the predominantly blasting drums are really well played. We´re talking a really, really raw release here which is best examplified by the extremely distorted and aggressive raspy vocals. It´s so and so with the innovation and the quality of the songwriting but fans of really extreme black metal should have a blast with this.

"Hammerfight" is quite different sounding compared to the later more post-metal infuced black metal releases by Cobalt and it´s different when it comes to the quality of the release too compared to later releases. The lo-fi sound quality and rehearsal room atmosphere of the release are not assets which make "Hammerfight" a great release. Some black metal releases can get away with underproduced productions, and some even prosper from such a production, but "Hammerfight" just sounds a bit amaturish. It´s distorted and noisy, and the material a bit too monotone too. A 2 star (40%) rating is warranted.