(written by Islander)
We prize extreme metal because it captures and conveys emotional intensity in more powerful ways than most other musical genres do. However, the emotional intensity of the music and vocals aren’t always reflected in lyrics. Often written after the music, the lyrics may be entirely unconnected to the experiences and moods that inspired the music; worse still, they may also be mundane, cliched, and entirely forgettable.
That kind of criticism won’t be applied to the new sophomore album by Cogas. It is rooted, both musically and lyrically, in the frustration, pain, and anger spawned by conditions in their homeland of Sardinia, the second largest island in the Mediterranean and a place of remarkable, varied beauty and rich, fascinating history, but also (based on our own reading) a place apparently plagued by high youth unemployment, enormous outflows of young people seeking to escape such conditions, and both mental and physical health problems among those who’ve remained.
Cogas themselves, who have been based in London for some time, have explained what inspired their new album Among the Dead: How to Become a Ghost: Continue reading »
