Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Cosmo Daivat
Label: Self-released
Release: 2016
Rating: 3/5
Cosmo Daivat are the former Co.Da., who put out two EPs, in 2011 and 2013 respectively: »The Dawn of the Black« and »Second Chapter: Froce That Treads Water«.
The debut actually contains every track from both EPs, matured (especially in sound and arrangement) and in step with the band’s artistic ripening and musical vision. »In Am Co.Da« is a very well-played studio debut, which only confirms that the people behind this album, now with us in the studio, are seasoned musicians who put their own authorial stamp on it. All the building blocks of the sonic picture are clearly audible, too. The production breathes live and serves up the songs with a sound where everything sits in proper balance. That means you can clearly hear the determined »groove« of the bass lines! In a milieu like this (even when you hold such an album up against similar releases from the international scene), the guitars are never turned up loud enough, but for something »bigger, even »fatter«, »harder« and »heavier«, they’d have to look for a producer abroad. An expensive one, of course.
The arrangements lack nothing. The songs are compact and mostly unfold in keys of melancholic musicality, meaning they’re built on minor. Definitely instantly winning and listenable in a get-under-your-skin way. Cosmo Daivat decided to try themselves out in the “lighter scenery” of the alternative rock sphere, even though the musicians’ performance chops show they could easily do very well in metal too (even technically more demanding metal). They’ve toned down the guitars and brought in clean vocals that sound »mournful«, »contrite«, »depressive« in the verses, in short the main carrier of melancholy in the music. »I Am Co.Da« is therefore a dark album, which is entirely fitting and couldn’t be any other way, since the messages in the lyrics reflect our way of life. Here, now. A reflection of a blown past and a herald of a gloomy future, where no real vision for individual prosperity can be found. The middle instrumental parts, aka the »mid-eight« passages, are deftly spiced up with catchy, fitting guitar solos and very smooth transitions. That keeps the songs’ atmosphere and their compact form intact. You can feel the band really spent a long time on the arrangements and sweated every little detail. »I Am Co.Da« is an album that radiates serious effort and commitment. Both in rehearsals and in the studio.
What pushes the more demanding listener away from the album is the feeling that Cosmo Daivat want to please the majority with it. To »sneak« closer to radio frequencies, or to calculatingly look for their shot at commercial catchiness for the masses. Hand on heart: mute just the guitars on this record and you get an alternative pop album. An album, that is, that doesn’t look for creative challenges, doesn’t challenge the musicians’ inner creative selves, and sails cautiously in the waters of less demanding listeners’ taste, sticking to highly listenable musical lines of the kind that, over the years of rock’n’roll, have already been heard (way too) many times before.
This is definitely a Slovenian album. The energy, or vibe, that the sonic picture radiates, melancholy of the melos included, comes from the geographic origin of the musical perception (and transmission) on the sunny side of the Alps. There’s not a moment’s doubt about that. The lyrics confirm it too, along with the metrics of how they’re set into phrases. Though they’re in English, they come across as typically “English-Slovenian”. Cosmo Daivat have pushed out a subtly packaged album that’s good. Even very good. But in terms of expression it’s nothing special at all. There are no bands like this in Slovenia, which is an advantage for the lineup. There are similar ones, though. And not many. In that sense, Cosmo Daivat could fill a spot on the Slovenian music scene, where you could also slot in Tide from Kranj, or say John F. Doe. The album’s aura definitely works as catchy, although, precisely because of its sonic-compositional agreeableness and calculation, the album brings nothing unheard-of. It’s up to you whether your own aura finds its kinship and compatibility with the aura of this release. Generally speaking, Cosmo Daivat are by no means a standout for the Slovenian music scene, but they carry the potential for a breakthrough onto radio frequencies, i.e. toward the “mainstream”. If they’re happy with that, they’ve done their job, but it’s not a given that this will make them “worth mentioning” on the general rock’n’roll map.
Cosmo Daivat – We Are The Prime (official video):
Lineup
Damjan Šaršanski – vocals
Edin Biščić “Bisconne” – guitar
Matej Krč – guitar
Uroš Dobčnik “Urko” – bass
Aleš Hrastnik – drums
Production
Edin Biščić
Tracklist
1. The Raw Beast (Metamorphosis)
2. Sovereigns
3. Men of Sun
4. Prelude
5. Stone
6. Force That Treads Water
7. Gabriel
8. These Cold Roses
9. Prologue
10. Vulgar Fashion of Violence
11. We Are the Prime
12. Orkestra Influenza
13. Vigilantes of the Black Sun
14. Fist To the Sun
