Cough - Still They Pray flac album

Still They Pray is a righteous echo of its classic forebears, turned way up and delivered with gospel-like belief. For their first two albums, Cough handed production duties over to Sanford Parker, the hyper-productive Chicago musician and session overlord who’s worked with many of the most vital American metal acts of the last two decades. For the eight minutes of mid-album highlight Masters of Torture, Cough pivots between low-tempo, high-distortion terror, rippling blues solos, and mutated-and-drugged thrash. It’s a clear composite of antecedents, a distillation of heroes that’s obvious but no less compelling for being so blatant. Cough slows down one last time in the final minute, and Chandler-voice warped by a web of effects, as if singing from inside a tomb-begins to chant a koan: Live to hate/Hate to live, he yells, repeating it until the riff dissolves into feedback.

Cough Still They Pray (Relapse Records). Richmond, VA has become quite the fertile land for doom of late, with Cough and Windhand emerging with huge riffs and interesting atmospheres. Cough have always been more in line with Electric Wizard, preferring a plodding form of punishment. Their first album in over five years, Still They Pray, sees more of the same, with some slight tinkering here and there. The question is this: does the band’s brand of doom stand out, or is it little more than a passable slow and steady doom record? Unfortunately, it’s the latter

Cough takes a big step into that realm from Ritual Abuse to this album. It's much more predictable and much more vanilla. They definitely take what worked from the past album and really hash it out into this full length here. but it's in the double digits for sure. In fact, Cough is really in their element here, with some of their most consistent songwriting and instrumentation wrapped up in a somber atmosphere. There's just nothing close to that anywhere on Still They Pray. Now, we just have slow fuzzy doom metal with nothing really to separate it from the hundreds of other stoner doom bands out there. Don't get me wrong, it's some of the better stuff in the genre and stands on its own merits. Your view of this compared to the past album will definitely depend on your tastes.

Of course, the album is still full of piss and vinegar. Masters of Torture and The Wounding Hour showcase harsher vocals and an angrier outlook that dares to outdo the Wizard’s last effort. Like many of their peers, Cough gives off the impression of being a one trick pony while offering depth with further examination

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