Cocoon
“This Is Freedom”
(Rising Records)

Germany’s weirdly named Cocoon may have only been together 3 years, but this young band’s 12 track debut of hard core is both well produced and delivered as well as being very American sounding. While ‘35/14’ reminded me a lot of emo core Atreyu, ‘Choose Life’ had slow, staggered heavy riffs along Biohazard’s groove and ‘Neopagan’ was just full on screamcore. Best surprise came in the form of Slayer deathcore riffing on ‘Unleash Tommorrow’ showcasing the full range of mature talents from these guys covering deep issues such as pride, heartbreak and suicide.

-Shan Siva