Cobra Skulls

So I've been talking a lot of shit about Epitaph recently (though to it's defense they recently released an excellent record, New Maps Of Hell, by Bad Religion), and it seems as Epitaph is going down, Red Scare Industries is going up. In the 1990's their were really three labels that had a lot of the premier punk bands, who couldn't get, or didn't want a major label contract, Epitaph, Lookout!, and Fat Wreck. Well now Lookout! is basically dead, Epitaph is Epitaph, and Fat Wreck seems to be the only one still releasing consistenly good music (aside from new Bad Religion or Millencolin albums that come out every few years on Epitaph).

Anyway, during this void Red Scare Industries is slowly becoming one of the premier punk labels out their. With bands like The Methadones, Teenage Bottlerocket, The Lillingtons, and The Copyrights, to name a few, Red Scare had built up a solid roster of punk bands. But the label's most recent signing, Cobra Skulls, is what solidifies it being mentioned up their with Fat Wreck. Listening to the band, I'm quickly reminded of The Clash, due to the bands use of reggae, and their politically charged lyrics. Their sound also has remnents of Bad Religion and The Dead Kennedys, as the singers voice is something to the effect of Greg Graffin, Jello Biafra, and Joe Strummer's vocal chords put into a blender (as well as teir lyrics). The songs have riffs that go right into your head, and good lyrics to match (as far as I know their the only band to write a song about Christian conservative closet case junky Ted Haggard). The lyrics in general can outmatch almost any band today in terms of great political commentary, with maybe the exception of Bad Religion and NOFX. Heres some lines from their song Charming The Cobra:

"how can we keep dying for you?
in a distant land of different ways
our only connection is
a television in the living room
and the anchor is only putting you to bed
with filler in your head delivering a trivial story
instead of giving you what might be
trouble for the GOP"

And as great as the lyrics are, it's the songs reggae influenced riffs that standout. The song is great, the band is great, these guys have a bright future.