The Cobra Bites

One of my favourite German record labels is Cobra Records. The label has been putting out quality releases for years, mainly focusing on German and European bands. Plus the Cobra tries to keep down the prices for the records, which can't be taken for granted in 2014 anymore.

I've been waiting for new material by Barren ever since I first listened to their demo tape, which came out in 2012. Barren put you in a time machine and bring you back to the depths of 90s hardcore. Vegan Edge Mosh at its fucking best. Seriously, this is plain awesome. As can be expected from a band playing this style of hardcore, the texts are highly political but far from cliché. It's rather they talk about old issues, but give it a new modern spin offering something new. Don't judge this record by its cover. It looks modern, but it'll take you back to your youth (if your old enough). Hopefully you kept some of those baggy pants and XL shirts...
As I understand it, the band asked for a black vinyl only release, which is fine by me, seeing that it works really well with the cover and layout overall. There's supposedly another version of this, put out by a Russian label called Hidden Rainbows, but I have no idea if there are any differences between the two labels' versions. Anyway, this will definitely end up ranking highly on my 2014 list. The only hair in the soup for me is that there are only eight songs on this LP, three of which were already released on the demo, albeit in slightly different versions. Would have liked it if there had been a couple of more songs. Still, this record is really, really good. Can't wait to see them live again, because they're killing it on a stage, too.

Daniel of Cobra Records went through great pains to put out a compilation. Now, I love compilations, because they're a great way of checking out new bands. I only knew like three bands that were advertised once the line-up was finalized, which I like to see as an opportunity rather than thinking I'm out of the loop here. Obviously there are only SXE bands featured on this compilation. Only European ones to be precise. I really dig this idea. I have listened to it a few times by now and there is not a single bad song on it. A lot of different styles, but that's what makes it so interesting. I really like the overall concept of this as well as the artwork. The booklet is done very nicely too.
This comes on white vinyl with black/greyish marble and is out of 100. There are two other versions out there, one on black vinyl with white marble out of 100 and one on white vinyl out of 300. Your chance to check out a lot of (new) bands and support a label definitely worth supporting.

P.S. I didn't take a picture of the back cover on purpose cause I didn't want to spoil the surprise for you if you find out who the sexy legs on the front cover belong to.