Better late than never! This became official awhile back, but I neglected to rant about it: Umlaut's mighty friends Black Cobra have signed to the mighty Southern Lord!!Black Cobra spent a large part of 2008 in the U.S. and Europe as direct support for The Sword... and Rafa and Jason have worked their asses off and they deserve all of the molten good fortune that is coming their way! The official announcement from Southern Lord:
Black Cobra:
Rafa Martinez and Jason Landrian have been coalescing Black Cobra’s sonic brew for nearly six years now, yet neither were strangers to heaving heavy riffage prior, with Rafa doing time with Acid King and 16, and Jason in Cavity. But the pair unleash a tone heavier than a trio of both guitar and drums. Their impenetrable hardcore doom chemistry evokes an intensity that sets them apart from the others, both live and recorded. The band have toured seemingly endlessly on both US and foreign soil since their 2002 inception, sharing the stage with The Sword, Weedeater, High On Fire, Torche and countless other bands in the upper ranks of metal and doom, most times blowing the competition away completely. Black Cobra plans to record their first album for Southern Lord sometime in the first half of 2009, with more info and tour dates to be announced very shortly.
http://www.blackcobra.net
http://www.myspace.com/blackcobra
This news also makes Umlaut happy for selfish reasons, since I'm already drooling over the future Black Cobra releases that Southern Lord will unleash on beautiful, beautiful vinyl... No one does vinyl the way Southern Lord does. Drool...
On another note: Awhile back, The Sword kept an entertaining tour diary for The Austin Chronicle during their U.S. Tour with Metallica. An excerpt:
Dec. 20: Oracle Arena, Oakland, Calif.
Fuck yeah! Our buddies from Saviours and Black Cobra are in town and come to the show. This is our favorite thing, to catch up with our raddest duders. We played an okay show and then, as Lars' b-day is just a few days away and this is the last night of the tour for a while, at Hetfield's behest, Kyle and I attempt to pie Lars onstage (at the end of "Seek and Destroy," of course). Man, that dude can run! (He actually runs several miles a day.) Seeing everyone coming, he sprinted, jumped off the stage (which is pretty high), and managed to dodge pies for a minute or two hiding down between the barricades. Eventually we caught him.
