Review: Cold Sweats – Social Coma

 

Cold Sweats
Social Coma

Six 3 Collective
Street: 11.06.15
Cold Sweats = Quicksand + Brutal Juice + Scratch Acid

“Mock Me Gently” disguises itself as a hardcore song deeply rooted in the blues. Melodies mark Cold Sweats’ separate and distinct identity from Brooklyn’s deeply rich hardcore history. Equal to the band’s melodic motifs is their coarse veneer and razor-blade-slicing rhythms. Social Coma does not repent; it does not confess. It cuts through socialization’s steaming pile of bullshit one track after the next. In “Hater Failure,” an unforgettable chorus blisters and burns its former loving counterpart. “It’s not your fault / but I’ll blame it all on you / because I am nothing / but a failure” is the Hallmark card each of us would love to purchase if such candor was permitted within that company. Basslines and low-bottom barrel notes pulse like a headache after a hangover. Exposing the weakest of all forms of socialization, “Hive Mind” sneers with a surfer’s swagger at those who cannot think for themselves. Hive minds are useless, but Social Coma is important, revelatory and necessary. –Stephan Wyatt