Cold Brats

Reviews

Cold Brats / Gel Shock Therapy split LP

I love splits because bands usually try to bulldoze everything in their path over their own side of plastic grooves or slice of tape. In this case, New Jersey’s GEL does a search-and-destroy action with four tracks of ear-shattering and brash hardcore, blowing away any neuron connections you have left. Then it’s the turn of Romania’s COLD BRATS, with an army of sharp riffs ready to drive punks and normies alike berserk. After listening to their contribution, you’ll understand why the split is called Shock Therapy. The talent of both bands is undeniable, and putting them together is an act of pure genius.

Cold Brats Punk in the Digital Age Extended LP

Solid collection of negative hardcore from this Bucharest, Romania band. This LP is a compilation of tracks recorded over several years, and it shows because the sound and direction change a bit from song to song. What COLD BRATS do well is raw vocals over mid-tempo chugs, like HOAX with occasional sinister organ backing. “Split Saber” and “Republic of Dust” are great spooky bummer blasts. “Hollow Point” works in the same mode with a dissonant guitar figure that empowers the bad vibes into real bad vibes. Where the band loses me a bit are on tracks where they get silly with the vocals. “Life, and Nothing More” has a goofy spoken part with someone describing how a knock at the door interrupted them watching “Finding Nemo.” It’s Mike Muir-demanding-a-Pepsi silly and halts the momentum that the first few tracks build up. A skronky no wave sax wail and the return of screamed vocals in the chorus help it, but barely. “Banana” tries it again with a mostly instrumental, noisy surf-inspired song with the only lyric being the song title. It’s a weird shift in tone for those two tracks and would surely get the skip if this were a CD. Other than those two weirdo outliers, this is a good soundtrack for bad days.