Dead Cowboy's Sluts
Axel at Rock N Growl PR was kind enough to recently put us on to Dead Cowboy’s Sluts, a death/thrash metal unit that sets out to contrast against the current scene, in order to show that they can produce a unique and approachable sound of their own. We were sent through their album, The Hand Of Death to check out, forewarned that the sound was something straight out of the 90’s – which could either be a good or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it I guess! Anyhow, enough of me wittering, what of the music?
From the opening moments of B.T.K there’s an immediate suggestion that this is going to be a demented and scary ride, opening with horror style sound effects and ushering in a sense of overwhelming darkness and foreboding. Building and building through the distorted and demented sounds, the track finishes with the statement ‘I’ve see the death’ before launching us straight into Asylum Breakout, a track which immediately continues this dark and distorted approach, throwing us straight into a pit of all out devastation and power from the word go. Rolling drums combine with powerful guitar work and bass rhythms to continue a sound which is distorted, fast, and the sort of thing which you know is going to go down damned well on the live scene. There’s something epic about the progression of this track, immediately starting the album off on a high and suggesting damned good things are to come.
I Will Hunt You Down once again continues this idea, this time slowing things down a little to fully accentuate the sludgy guitar work, opening with a real sense of heaviness before ushering in some sampled vocals to get things going properly. Moving away from the slower idea, the track soon resumes the hammering pace and sends us back down the road of thrash style metal, the sort of thing which is going to get circle pits moving, people chanting along, and cries for more echoing out across the venue. Throw in an almighty breakdown into the mix and what you’ve got here is quite simply incredible, a definite stand out track from the album. Having said that, it’s also fair to say that Lusk is an equally stand out track, launching into a Pantera-esque style melee of hammering drumlines, powerful bass rhythms and distorted guitar lines, all working with the raw and gravelly vocal lines which lead us through the track. Faster and firmly rooted in thrash metal, this is a track which holds everything you could possibly want, from rolling drum lines through to guitar lines which will leave the guitarists out there jealous from the word go.
Must Be Broken, Criminal, Purify By Fire and This Hate all continue the progression of the album, not acting as filler tracks as happens all too often on albums of this length, but instead demonstrating that there’s no holding back when it comes to Dead Cowboy’s Sluts, they go at full speed from start to finish without missing a single beat. Gates Of Perdition in surprisingly an off heavy track which, after all the power comes as somewhat of a shock initially, but there’s something more complex within the sound which greets us here. Pulling back for a moment to allow the acoustic guitar work to lead into the track, mixing it with sound effects of the wind and once again crafting a sound which is dark, ominous, foreboding, yet firmly rooted in melody. Keeping things melodic and almost soothing throughout the track, there’s no need for distortion or roaring, instead the soft guitar work and weather effects combine to continue the heavy and mysterious sound, standing this out as a damned fine track in its own right, and one which should definitely be listened to.
Skull Crusher continues straight on from the previous track and blows all ideas of soft reflection out of the water, this time opening with a pounding riff designed to scare the crap out of you, showing that when it comes to heavy, sometimes a soft lead in can make it even heavier. Raw and stripped back, there’s something about this track which harks of being basic, yet at the same time, it once again matches the sound of the record so far. Life, Death, And Its Pai therefore has quite an act to follow as it comes up next, only the band seem to have understood that and seem to raise the bar with this track, throwing down with a fast, furious and powerful track which sounds almost heavier than the others before it. Rolling drums work to set the pace whilst the roaring vocal line keeps things moving throughout, forming into the sort of track which is sort of like thrash, but far too heavy to be labelled as something so simplistic. This track for me was my favourite from the record, definitely a track I want to see live!
The Hand Of Death Pt. 1 and The Hand Of Death Pt. 2 both continue to compound the idea of horror influenced idealisms within the music, opening with spoken word and ominous guitar work, building into the track and dragging you along, making sure you don’t miss a single moment. Slow and distorted throughout, there’s a real sense of being dragged across a wasteland built into this track, the sound almost making the video for you and showing you how music can alter the way you think. When Part 2 kicks in this is all blown out of the water though and once again we’re returned to that high speed power house of thrash that the band seem to be able to produce on request. Fast paced and heavy from the word go, this track is a return to the no holds barred approach of the beginning of the album, the sort of thing which is going to get you wanting to see them live, and the sort of thing which will push these guys up to the high levels of bands.
Closing with Backdraft the album finishes much as it began, closing with a distorted and groove orientated track designed to get heads banging and fists pumping. This track came a close second on my favourites, there’s just something about it which holds that funky edge which you can’t help but move to, the sort of thing that you know is going to annoy your neighbours but you enjoy it so much that you have to play it as loud as you can. It’s a solid close to a cracking album, much as was expected from the word go here to be honest!
I don’t know about you, but I had no idea what to expect from a band called Dead Cowboy’s Sluts, but what I’ve found is a band that I think I might be hooked on from here on! From start to finish we’re shown just how technical, funky and powerful metal can be when it’s done well, resulting in an album which isn’t just good, it’s fricking awesome! Make sure you get out there and check these guys out, you don’t be disappointed!
To find out more about Dead Cowboy’s Sluts, check out their Facebook page HERE.
Words: Dave Nicholls
From the opening moments of B.T.K there’s an immediate suggestion that this is going to be a demented and scary ride, opening with horror style sound effects and ushering in a sense of overwhelming darkness and foreboding. Building and building through the distorted and demented sounds, the track finishes with the statement ‘I’ve see the death’ before launching us straight into Asylum Breakout, a track which immediately continues this dark and distorted approach, throwing us straight into a pit of all out devastation and power from the word go. Rolling drums combine with powerful guitar work and bass rhythms to continue a sound which is distorted, fast, and the sort of thing which you know is going to go down damned well on the live scene. There’s something epic about the progression of this track, immediately starting the album off on a high and suggesting damned good things are to come.
I Will Hunt You Down once again continues this idea, this time slowing things down a little to fully accentuate the sludgy guitar work, opening with a real sense of heaviness before ushering in some sampled vocals to get things going properly. Moving away from the slower idea, the track soon resumes the hammering pace and sends us back down the road of thrash style metal, the sort of thing which is going to get circle pits moving, people chanting along, and cries for more echoing out across the venue. Throw in an almighty breakdown into the mix and what you’ve got here is quite simply incredible, a definite stand out track from the album. Having said that, it’s also fair to say that Lusk is an equally stand out track, launching into a Pantera-esque style melee of hammering drumlines, powerful bass rhythms and distorted guitar lines, all working with the raw and gravelly vocal lines which lead us through the track. Faster and firmly rooted in thrash metal, this is a track which holds everything you could possibly want, from rolling drum lines through to guitar lines which will leave the guitarists out there jealous from the word go.
Must Be Broken, Criminal, Purify By Fire and This Hate all continue the progression of the album, not acting as filler tracks as happens all too often on albums of this length, but instead demonstrating that there’s no holding back when it comes to Dead Cowboy’s Sluts, they go at full speed from start to finish without missing a single beat. Gates Of Perdition in surprisingly an off heavy track which, after all the power comes as somewhat of a shock initially, but there’s something more complex within the sound which greets us here. Pulling back for a moment to allow the acoustic guitar work to lead into the track, mixing it with sound effects of the wind and once again crafting a sound which is dark, ominous, foreboding, yet firmly rooted in melody. Keeping things melodic and almost soothing throughout the track, there’s no need for distortion or roaring, instead the soft guitar work and weather effects combine to continue the heavy and mysterious sound, standing this out as a damned fine track in its own right, and one which should definitely be listened to.
Skull Crusher continues straight on from the previous track and blows all ideas of soft reflection out of the water, this time opening with a pounding riff designed to scare the crap out of you, showing that when it comes to heavy, sometimes a soft lead in can make it even heavier. Raw and stripped back, there’s something about this track which harks of being basic, yet at the same time, it once again matches the sound of the record so far. Life, Death, And Its Pai therefore has quite an act to follow as it comes up next, only the band seem to have understood that and seem to raise the bar with this track, throwing down with a fast, furious and powerful track which sounds almost heavier than the others before it. Rolling drums work to set the pace whilst the roaring vocal line keeps things moving throughout, forming into the sort of track which is sort of like thrash, but far too heavy to be labelled as something so simplistic. This track for me was my favourite from the record, definitely a track I want to see live!
The Hand Of Death Pt. 1 and The Hand Of Death Pt. 2 both continue to compound the idea of horror influenced idealisms within the music, opening with spoken word and ominous guitar work, building into the track and dragging you along, making sure you don’t miss a single moment. Slow and distorted throughout, there’s a real sense of being dragged across a wasteland built into this track, the sound almost making the video for you and showing you how music can alter the way you think. When Part 2 kicks in this is all blown out of the water though and once again we’re returned to that high speed power house of thrash that the band seem to be able to produce on request. Fast paced and heavy from the word go, this track is a return to the no holds barred approach of the beginning of the album, the sort of thing which is going to get you wanting to see them live, and the sort of thing which will push these guys up to the high levels of bands.
Closing with Backdraft the album finishes much as it began, closing with a distorted and groove orientated track designed to get heads banging and fists pumping. This track came a close second on my favourites, there’s just something about it which holds that funky edge which you can’t help but move to, the sort of thing that you know is going to annoy your neighbours but you enjoy it so much that you have to play it as loud as you can. It’s a solid close to a cracking album, much as was expected from the word go here to be honest!
I don’t know about you, but I had no idea what to expect from a band called Dead Cowboy’s Sluts, but what I’ve found is a band that I think I might be hooked on from here on! From start to finish we’re shown just how technical, funky and powerful metal can be when it’s done well, resulting in an album which isn’t just good, it’s fricking awesome! Make sure you get out there and check these guys out, you don’t be disappointed!
To find out more about Dead Cowboy’s Sluts, check out their Facebook page HERE.
Words: Dave Nicholls