The old adage "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" is a motto often overlooked in music today.  While a plethora of bands these days claim to be "the next big thing" in music with their allegedly progressive style that pushes the boundaries of genre, they more often than not are reinventing the wheel.  Richmond doom metal band Cough, however, makes no such claims as they roll right along with their tried-and-true lurching sludge-laden sound in the same vein as predecessors such as Electric Wizard or Saint Vitus. 

For those of you unfamiliar with the doom genre, think Black Sabbath riffs injected with tranquilizers and laid atop relentless Neanderthal drum beats that trudge along at a crawling pace, quite often for ten minutes or more.   Although vastly different in aesthetic and sound from hardcore punk, the overall mindset of these types of bands is rather similar: keep it simple, stupid.  No flashy masturbatory guitar or drum solos, no abrupt tempo shifts or superfluous synthesizer lead lines, no over-the-top or excessive vocal harmonies, just driving straightforward barebones songs.   Where most punk outfits usually get in and out with their songs around or under the two-minute mark,  doom metal outfits typically take the listener on an epic journey that can last as long as one hour for a single song (Sleep's Dopesmoker is a perfect example of this). 

Cough is no stranger to this long-winded and not altogether unlistenable mammoth-sized sonic cacophony, and their delivery of these droning gigantic sagas is as spot-on as anything you'd hear from bands of the same ilk, past or present.  I had the pleasure of seeing these guys perform in the gloriously dingy, beer-soaked basement of Crayola House in Harrisonburg to a small crowd in leather and jean jackets, forties in hand, bobbing their heads to the unrelenting massive sound roaring from the wall of amplifiers stacked behind the band, sending guttural shockwaves through the tightly-packed space.  Bassist Parker Chandlier and guitarist David Cisco's dual flayed-alive vocals fit well into the bellowing mix, and the frenzied intermittent wah-heavy lead lines of Cisco were a nice touch that served to break up the unyielding riffage every once in awhile as second guitarist Brandon Marcey continued to keep the rhythm locked in place with drummer Joseph Arcaro.  Despite a few brief power failures, due no doubt to the amount of wattage being channeled through their huge stack of cabs and amplifiers, their set was exquisitely heavy and they didn't let up until the last rumbling chord was played.  I left with my ears ringing and a smile on my face, which I always consider to be the mark of a great show.  If slow, ruthless propulsive metal is what you crave, I suggest you feast your ears on this doom-riddled four-piece. 

 

Links:

You can find Cough on MySpace here, and their CD is available directly from the page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Author: CJ DeLuca

CJ covers the Heavy scene.

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