Music For All Reviews DCxPC Live & Dead Vol. 1 Moat Cobra

By Luanda Myers

The “DCxPC Live” project has been one of the balms of energy and originality on the world music scene. Bringing rock talents of different probabilities, being able to be veterans or brilliant exponents in the alternative scene, in live recordings capturing all the possible virulence of the shows, has generated an imposing collection when it comes to organic material and with excellence.

The visibility before the public and specialized critics of this material that emerged during the social isolation of the pandemic, and was later released as live vinyl albums with covers that pay homage to VMLive records from the nineties, is increasingly growing in monumental proportions across the independent spectrum. In addition to complete live shows, there is the initiative to distribute presentations from the past, always sticking to the news in a new format, as we have here now: “Live & Dead” (live on one side and “dead” studio on the other) is the new stylistic incursion, with Orlando hardcore sensation MOAT COBRA as its protagonist.

Formed by Brett Beavers (vocals), Dave Moreno (guitar), Al Serrano (drums) and Roberto Oppenheimer (bass), since 2013 it has been impacting with its absolutely insane releases and shows, and nothing more comes from that than the participation in this SEMINAL endeavor! “DCxPC Live & Dead Vol. 1” with MOAT COBRA is anthological, and we will break down the work track by track for you… 

The “LIVE side” starts with the almost extreme metallic distortion and garage “Bloods Croup”, where the incredible vocal subliminally shouted, exasperates the entire identity of the American bard on stage! It's a petard, chaotic, apocalyptic and overwhelming, where we feel each premise of chaos in gradual levels. Raw, direct and masterfully visceral!

The broken riff of “Devour”, refers to a machine gun fired automatically without the bullets ending up, just like in eighties action movies. The feeling of imminent racing brings tension and danger, and as a “magic” trump card, it even has a very powerful chorus, those sticky ones and perfect to be shouted at the top of your lungs by a maddened crowd!

Crazy beats and a more drawn-out intro lead the spectrum of “Bad Star”, where the “dirt” of this stage recording together with the crazy rhythmic variation, refers to great blasts of grindcore and doom simultaneously, in the same “capsule” and this is FANTASTIC! “Singularity” is one of those “rocks” soaked in metallic permeations that is born with the undoubted status of supreme HINO, such as the power it unleashes. It's really AWESOME how we are automatically entered into this sensory process, our bodies move to stage-dive and pogo wheel as if we had immediately teleported to that state!

Gladius Vulgarius” reaffirms Al Serrano's talent in front of the drums, where we again have this furtive dialogue of a melancholy dragged with furious crazed paradigms. “Soffo Cone” is hardcore in its ultimate quintessence, while still referring to the irresistible groove that plagues the moment of the chorus. It refers to New York legends like Agnostic Front, but always exhausting personality through the pores of its conception, denoting the group's incisive artistic identity.

“Permian” has Brett Beavers summoning the audience for the final detonation, and that is exactly what unfolds in each chord, roar and beat of the oiled kitchen. We really have an imminent sense of the absurdly exhausted “end of the world”, with the right feedback and more than sure participation from the audience. INCREDIBLE!

By the way, this is the first song of our “Lado Dead”, and we only have the “cleanest” musical insanity in this studio version, in the most cadenced pasts. Moreover, we realize that nothing can stop the sonic fury of an irreproachable firecracker like “Permian”! As with “Bad Star”, “Gladius Vulgarius” and “Blood Crops”, we obviously have a “cleaner” hearing due to the recording, but at no point is the “heartless power” of the band threatened…

MOAT COBRA is always a heavy and extreme sensory journey, taking us to an unprecedented world, inside a “runaway rollercoaster”! “Prelude” is dense and loaded with atmospheric precepts, showing a greater influence of the experimental alternative scenario, including voice effects traveling on a journey into the unknown. It seems to be the gateway to the seminal “bashing” of “Lick The Knife”, with its riffs being hammered to exhaustion, at the same time that accurate melodies are unleashed without mercy!

We have no doubt that it will reach new heights within the genre, reaching even the most inhospitable corners of the planet, because its final result is truly SENSATIONAL! MOAT COBRA couldn't be a better debut for the “DCxPC Live & Dead Vol. 1"