Gold Cobra

Old and a bit cracked

Limp Bizkit returned with album ‘Gold Cobra’ with the bands original line up from previous albums prior to ‘Results may Vary’. Some say this album is a return to form for the band as they revisit some of the bare-bones sounds the band created from the early days, and on the other side of the coin some fans are left somewhat disappointed with some of the songs and lyrical themes.Production wise, the albums sound is very raw particularly in Wes’ guitar tone and in the drum tracks. The bass is nicely punchy and audible in the mix, there is still good use of scratches and ambience from DJ Lethal, however the vocals are arguably slightly too loud in the mix at times.‘Introba’ starts the album as an intro to build up some tension. It incorporates some low distorted bass, sampling, and Fred’s yelling in the back. Not the most memorable intro ever, but it does the trick to build up to ‘Bring it Back’. This song is where things pick up with a mid-tempo, super groovy mix of a heavy sludgy riffs, electronic hip hop drum beats, samples, and rapping from Fred. This song lyrically acts like a second intro with the theme that Limp Bizkit has made their return.Title track ‘Gold Cobra’ is the big single on the record and is an instant classic. This song has it all with bouncy verses with a catchy melody in the chorus and all other features you’d want in a Limp Bizkit song. ‘Shark Attack’ is another highlight being more up-tempo, and could have easily fit on one of the first albums from this band.‘Get a Life’ is an unusual song which consists mostly of Fred’s rapping over some drums and ambience until the chorus which is extremely aggressive. The latter part of the song almost sounds like it’s from a different track, and lyrically there is nothing more than talking down on haters on this song. The song then ends with a hip-hop beat and some Russian taking to lead into the next track ‘Shotgun’. This song seems like an effort to make another single like ‘Gold Cobra’ but feels nowhere near as strong, but still a fun and different song instrumental wise. ‘Douchebag’ is the worst song lyrically with dropping countless f-bombs back to back and ruins the song for me personally. The riffs that get a bit buried under the vocals are interesting with Wes incorporating the whammy bar which creates a sound you’d only find from Wes.‘Walking Away’ is the first slow song which breaks up the momentum of the album and showcases the mellow side of the band and Fred’s melodic clean singing which sounds more mature than the previous songs. This song has a lot of ambience whist still remaining heavy, vocally it could be compared to Deftones with droning vocals and some high screaming towards the end. ‘Loser’ is the next track and other slow track which lost my attention after just hearing the previous track. This song could have been placed somewhere else in the track listing.‘Autotunage’ is completely experimental vocally using autotune, and surprisingly it works well in the verses and feels almost like its making fun of autotune whilst completely abusing it to create a different sound. The riffs are some of the best on the album on this song. ‘90.2.10’ mostly follows the formula of some of the previous songs and is somewhat forgettable. ‘Why Try’ picks up the pace again and is one of the stronger choruses on the album with some comedy thrown in at the end. Lastly, ‘Killer in You’ ends of the album (if you have the regular edition of the album) and it’s easily one of the weaker and forgettable songs. There’s no strong melody, or memorable riffs, and is a weak ender for a somewhat average Limp Bizkit album.Overall, this album is not all bad like a lot of critics what you to believe, if you understand Limp Bizkit then you can appreciate this music. As a whole, this record sits solidly behind the band’s first three efforts. It does not have the strongest collection of songs by this band, but there are still some great songs mostly at the start of the album and throughout the album, the band shows they still work collectively as a unit to create their signature sound.

There's rarely been a dull moment in the checkered history of Limp Bizkit, and "Gold Cobra" is certainly not one of those. This was 2011's excellent return after 6 years since 2005's "The Unquestionable truth part 1 EP" and the first full length since the dishwater offering of 2003's "Results May Vary". Overall, this has to be one of they're best albums in their career all round; It's very much a back to basics album with some lavish experimentalism, tweaks!, but mostly straight down the line Bizkit' style rap/metal, as we have always known it.Of course this comes in as hardly surprising, as the full original band line-up perform at the top of their game on this outing; (Including the talents of DJ Lethal), who has been a reliable source of stabilizers for the toxic rocket-boosters of metal submerged rap. Whatever one may conclude about the crass and often distasteful motivations within Limp Bizkit's perspective. All the fans know by now that you don't get depth with this band, just s*** that fly's high. You listen for a laugh and a tongue-in-cheek album of unique charisma is what you get. It's definitely not for everyone,... but what is??....Now, lets get to grips with the content here then shall we!....Introbra - An utterly pointless interlude that blazes white noise for a minute and 20 seconds too long. Fred Durst can be briefly heard wailing in the background but this is totally forgettable. 1.5/10"Bring It Back" - Classic Bizkit with good use of distortion and guitar riffs. Fred Durst delivers a classic series of co-ordinated rapping over the top. It's very in you're face and utterly, utterly brilliant. 8.0/10"Gold Cobra" - Another instant bizkit classic, and the obvious choice for hit, lead single, video and title track. This song has a superb chorus, great lines and tons of punch. Best song of the album and one of the best in they're career so far. 9/10"Shark Attack" - This heavy bulldozer is no push over and very much along similar lines to the angry upstarts of 'Break Stuff'. Again a great chorus with better lyrics than the first two tracks make this one of the key anthems of "Gold Cobra". 8.5/10"Get A Life" - This one did not capture my attention at all. Totally over the top and utterly hideous; Durst's outrageous spat during the chorus was the ultimate turn off and I just had to pass this one by to save myself. 3.5/10"Shotgun" - Reminds us of the good ol' nu-metal days. It's an essential number with good riff and rhythm. It's surprisingly dynamic for a Bizkit song and definitely falls into the better half of the album for sure. 8.0/10"Douche bag" - Is an outrageous lyric fest with incredibly laughable, but vaguely relateable content. The bag language here is especially constant and amongst the ridiculous in this track; but you just have to forge a smile on your face with this one. You just have to!... 6.5/10"Walking Away" - showcases the vocal talents of Fred Durst on some of the more familiar, (and in my opinion), very underrated ballad compositions. This sounds like a memorable Bizkit ballad that I would listen to several times over:- again and again. 8.0/10"Loser" - sounds like a framework of some older Bizkit material and it's not too bad. There is a little too much familliarity here with this one but few steps go wrong. 6.0/10"AutoTunage" - Is an experimental charade that has both positive and negative aspects to it's feel and presence. Its goes on for bit too long, and Fred's vocal on autotune is a unique and very different perspective to what we're use to. Its divisive, it's Autotunage! 6.5/10"90.2.10" - Sounds bit trashy to begin with once the real feel of the song pans out' to my ears a little bit to lax and disappointing with idleness and no inspiration creeping in. 4.5/10"Why Try" Is a Bizkit' killer, and definitely harks back to the big hitters of 'My Generation' and the ilk. It's heavy, forceful and propelled by Durst with excellent and stable contributions. 8.5/10"Killer In You" is an amusing affair which tells a tail of a killer in a story-like and lecturing style. This song is a descent cut above the usual Bizkit dram and the lyrics are nigh to behold. 7.5/10I didn't ever purchase the deluxe edition, (that contained three or so bonus songs). If I ever do upgrade to this edition I will revise my review. But for now this is evidently a very solid bizkit album that stays close to the rules but also prizes a-part the restrictions and walls of the rap/metal niche. With DJ Lethal now out of the band, I am unconvinced that the band can pull together a superior effort to this one at the current time. The whole album was clearly negotiated well and allot of though and ideas were put into it.It was, and still is, one of the best things the band have compiled in over a decade!.

For a while back at the turn of the century Limp Bizkit could do no wrong, their first 3 studio albums all selling millions of copies. It seemed the more negative press they got especially front man Fred Durst the more records they ended up selling. That would all change by late 2001/early 2002 as a new wave of guitar bands namely The Strokes and The White Stripes would change the course of The music landscape at the time. Also the departure of guitarist Wes Borland would also deliver a blow to Limp Bizkit. They continued on with 2003's "Results May Vary" a record which divided fans and didn't sell in the numbers the previous albums had. A brief return in 2005 with original guitarist Wes Borland yielded the ep "The Unquestionable Truth Part 1" which saw the band adopt a much heavier sound. By 2006 it was all over Borland had departed again to work on his own band Black Light Burns debut album. Red baseball caps were becoming an endangered item, that was until 2009 when they got back together and started touring and promised a new album which is what we have now in "Gold Cobra".It's their first full length album With Wes Borland since 2000's "Chocolate Starfish and Hot Dog flavored Water" and his presence does make a difference, you will recognise his familiar riff on "Bring It Back"(following intro opener "Introbra") which bursts into life before the minute mark when Drummer John Otto unleashes his heavy sound. The title track "Gold Cobra" sound like it wouldn't be out of place on first album "Three Dollar Bill Y'All" and features some great bass work by Sam Rivers as well as some great rhymes from Durst the track even changes a bit towards the end, kinda like the breakdown used in "Eat You alive". As always Rivers Bass and Otto's drums are real tight. A track that has got all the trademark Bizkit features is "Douchebag" as it features a killer Borland riff and has the usual quiet/loud breakdown, it's a song made for playing live. It's also got a simple chorus that won't be to hard to remember. "Get A Life" is up there as one of the heaviest Limp Bizkit tracks and has a Borland solo to back it up.On the second half of the album "Walking Away" has a bass intro that sounds not unlike "Take A Look Around" or "Re-Arranged", it's one of the more mellow tracks on the album and wouldn't have sounded out of place on "Results May Vary". "Loser" is again on the lighter side and is surely one of those songs used to give the listener a chance to catch their breath after the non stop all assault of the first part of the album, the intro also sounds a lot like "My Way". "Autotunage" has Fred using auto tune and it doesn't sound great and sounds more like a gimmick than anything else, it's a song thats unlikely to get many plays. It also goes way over long. The only real highlight to "90.2.10" is that it's got a trash riff going on. Thankfully the album finishes strong with "Why Try" and "Killer In You" two tracks that never stray too far from the Limp Bizkit formula.Limp Bizkit will continue to divide people. Fred Durst will continue to irritate people. But it's good to hear Limp Bizkit playing to their strengths and not straying too far from what them such a big name in the first place. It's great to have Wes Borland back in the band. Many people have given up on them long ago and it's unlikely they will ever enjoy their early success again but throw this album on and turn it up loud after all Limp Bizkit were always meant to sound like this and if you didn't like them before this is unlikely to change your opinion.

In my opinion, probably LB's greatest album, proving to the world that nobody can do what they can. Still listening to this album 5 years later. Great selection of tracks from drums to how the bass clashes dominantly in some songs, your typical in your face lyrics with some lighter tracks proving they can still bring out the best of both.

As others have stated, this really is a return to the limp bizkit I loved 10+ years ago. Of course it's unlikely to be hailed as musical greatness by any musical "experts" but if you liked LB's 1st 3 albums this is right up your alley. After the thoroughly dissapointing "Unquestionable Truth" I thought LB's best days were behind them but this is right back in the zone. Particularly love track 3 (Gold cobra) and track 8 (walking away) but the album isn't a "singles" album, it's great to listen to right through as it kinda "evolves" like a story. Bit of everything I love about the LB. Long live Fred!