Cobalt (band)

Cobalt
Cobalt at Roadburn Festival 2017
Background information
Origin	Greeley, Colorado, United States
Genres	Black metal
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Profound Lore
Associated acts	Man's Gin
Members	Erik Wunder Charlie Fell
Past members	Phil McSorley

Cobalt is an American black metal duo from Greeley, Colorado, founded in 2002. Cobalt have only toured once in 2013 in the United States, including a performance at Maryland Deathfest.

Cobalt began as a solo project of Phil McSorley, under the name Grimness Enshroud, who released one demo. Childhood friend Erik Wunder then joined the band and the name was changed to Cobalt in 2002. The name Cobalt was chosen because, in the words of Wunder, "we wanted a name that didn't entail anything. Something basic. Something elemental. The name 'Cobalt' leaves room for any variety of directions". Wunder drums and performs all of the guitars since the first album, and performs the drums live. McSorley provides vocals. Aside from being in Cobalt, McSorley has served tours of duty with the U.S. army in Iraq and South Korea, while Wunder fronts folk band Man's Gin and plays in experimental singer Jarboe's band.

The first album, War Metal, was mostly raw and primitive black metal, with the occasional hint of what Cobalt was to become. The following album, Eater of Birds, has been cited as "a great step in the bands evolution". Aside from being inspired by early 1990s black metal, the album embraced such influences as Neurosis and Swans, with Jarboe (of Swans) making guest appearances on Cobalt's last two albums.Eater of Birds has been described as featuring "70 minute monolith of blasting war metal, massive thrash riffs, drawn-out crescendoes and ritualistic interludes". Both albums were out of print for years and commanded high prices on webstores such as eBay, but in April 2013 Eater of Birds was reissued by Profound Lore.

The follow up to Eater of Birds, Gin, further cemented the duo as one of the very best forward thinking, envelope shredding purveyors of black metal that the US has to offer. It was released in 2009 to critical acclaim, being described as "an album that truly, viscerally expanded the possibilities of black metal, both musically and thematically". Among other accolades it was voted as the second best album of 2009 by Terrorizer. The album was largely inspired by two literary figures, Ernest Hemingway and Hunter Thompson. The front cover features a young Hemingway in army uniform, whereas the back cover has a bloated and aged Hemingway brandishing the same shotgun that he took his life with. A picture of Thompson shooting his typewriter is in the center of the inlay.

...
Wikipedia