King Kobra – King Kobra

Releasedate: 15-04-2011; Label: Frontiers Records
By: Brandy Cross

King Kobra is a metal/glam band that formed in 1984 and featured Carmine Arpice, the former drummer for Ozzy Osborne. Their first and most popular album ‘Ready To Strike’ featured Mark (now Marcie) Free on vocals. In 1986 King Kobra was dissolved so that Arpice could work on his other projects, however they have briefly reunited with changes in lineup to do to more albums. In 2010 the band reunited with Paul Shortino on vocals to produce their latest album.

The new self titled album, which is not to be confused with the bands third album King Kobra III, is everything that a King Kobra fan could ask for. It is reminiscent of their classic metal sound with a faint hint of the 80’s left to remind us where the band comes from. The tracks are mostly fast paced, solid 80’s style metal with a modern tone and distortion. The songs are gritty, with a faint hint of old fashioned blues, any rock lover will enjoy. The new album is sure to rope in some new fans as well as please some old ones.

The opening track ‘Rock This House’ is a classic hard rock song with a little bit of country influence. Dance or head bang, your choice, its all there. Track two, ‘Turn Up The Good Times’ is something you might expect from Motley Crue, gritty rock and roll that catches your attention and keeps it. Then you switch to ‘Live Forever’ where they really show their 80’s influence. Tear down the walls is a heavy metal anthem that’s sure to have you singing along after the first few rounds while track four, ‘This is How We Roll’, could easily have been off of a Sammy Hagar album. ‘Midnight Woman’ is pure classic King Kobra with their familiar lyric twists and heavy metal guitars, ‘We Got A Fever’ is a little blues influenced but still pretty metal. ‘Top of the World is one of the most ambitious tracks on ‘Kobra’. Van Halen style intro and 80’s style chorus. ‘You Make It Easy’, slows the pace down a bit with a lot of layered backing vocals which blends right into an even slower ballad, ‘Crying Turns To Rain’, which sounds like it could have been written in 1987. Kobra picks the tempo right back up with ‘Screaming for More’, another traditional type Kobra song that will leave the fans…well..’Screaming for More.’ The last song is the second true ballad on the album ‘Fade Away’ and seems pretty appropriate as the last track on the album.

Overall, its the album we’ve all been waiting for. Just enough of the old King Kobra and enough new to keep us interested without being disappointed with the new singer. Paul Shortino does a great job at the mic and really does Kobra justice. His vocals aren’t quite as good as Free’s and some fans are sure to be disappointed about the change, however, considering that Free retired in 1995, Shortino does a remarkable job in keeping with the spirit of the original King Kobra.

Line Up:
Paul Shortino – Vocals
David Michael-Philips – Guitar
Mick Sweda – Guitar
Johnny Rod – Bass Guitar
Carmine Appice – Drums

Tracklist: Track List: 1. Rock This House 2. Turn Up The Good Times 3. Live Forever 4. Tear Down The Walls 5. This Is How We Roll 6. Midnight Woman 7. We Got A Fever 8. Top Of The World 9. You Make It Easy 10. Crying Turns To Rain 11. Screamin’ For More 12. Fade Away