KOBRA AND THE LOTUS — Prevail I (review)

KOBRA AND THE LOTUS — Prevail I album cover

Album · 2017 · Heavy Metal

3.5/5 · 2017-05-17
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I have to be honest, when I first heard Canadian metal act Kobra and the Lotus I wasn't all that impressed. This would have been sometime after the release of their debut album Out of the Pit (2009) of course, a record that's since become quite obscure and from which only vocalist Kobra Paige herself still remains with the band today. This first impression was quickly forgotten with the band's second album, the self-titled Kobra and the Lotus (2012), where the band really upped their game, also adopting more of a power metal sound. With their third album High Priestess (2014), the band only continued to grow in my estimations, now also leaning in towards thrash metal in addition to their traditional and power metal elements of albums past. Back after three years with their fourth full-length album Prevail I (2017), the first of a pair with Prevail II slated to follow in the very near future, and I've little reason to doubt going in that more great things should be expected.

Maybe it's simply a case of expecting too much, but Prevail I isn't exactly everything I'd hoped it would be. On one hand if you want a modern sounding heavy metal album with great female vocals then check, you've got it here, with a couple of power metal moments on the side. But it's really not much more than that. Don't get me wrong, it's a good album for its style, but when an artist sets the bar high with their previous work, as Kobra and the Lotus did on their last two albums, then it also seems somewhat lacklustre. The thrash metal elements from High Priestess seem to have completely evaporated rather than developed further, and as hinted above the power metal elements have been considerably cut down too. I'd have called the last two albums power metal albums before heavy metal albums, so Prevail I really marks a shift back towards the band's original sound, although it's still much stronger than Out of the Pit of course. There are some new developments such as such neoclassical inspired lead guitar on the instrumental Check the Phyrg, but what has been gained doesn't balance out what their sound has lost on this album.

Now, there's nothing wrong with traditional heavy metal of course, and I've often wondered if Kobra and the Lotus's power and thrash metal elements were something of a fluke due to their self-branding as a hard rock/metal band, but the trouble is those elements were the instrumental strength of the self-titled and High Priestess. They worked well with Kobra Paige's strong vocals. It was a combination that produced some melodic, yet hard hitting metal music that was a joy to listen to and regularly revisit. I can't be the only one who had hopes for more of that. Prevail I, by comparison, actually seems to be a bit generic and forgettable. I'm left with a single hope that Prevail II, whenever it drops (it should at least be before Wintersun releases Time II), contains material more like High Priestess and isn't just more of the same as this first part, because that really would be a let down.

I will reiterate before I close this review; the songs on Prevail I aren't bad, but they aren't particularly special either. Some nice tracks here and there including Specimen X (The Mortal Chamber) and Check the Phyrg and definitely exceptional vocals from Kobra herself across the whole album, but it just doesn't manage to grab hold of me in the same way.