Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Limp Bizkit - Gold Cobra (2011)
Having had a good experience in checking out Limp Bizkit's Significant Other, I thought I would skip ahead to another one of their albums with a song that I'm familiar with. Now before we get to that, let me just say that a lot has happened since between those two albums. The funk/hip-hop/punk/rock/metal cauldron known as nu metal was on the rise during the start of the new millennium. You can mosh through simple song structures and offensive rants (though Linkin Park's lyrics were clean in their two nu metal albums), though metal purists certainly won't. After a few years, the genre faded out, and Limp Bizkit went on hiatus, until they made their return to form in the early 2010s....
Limp Bizkit showed the world that it's never too late to revive what to love or hate about nu metal. With Gold Cobra, they can still strike like that giant cobra behind 3 bikini babes in the cover art, unleashing their loud abrasive violence suitable for my brother to listen to in one of his car drives. Though it's more like a half-baked resurrection that at least never gets highly experimental, unlike the electro-rock of Linkin Park's A Thousand Suns or Korn's dive into dubstep in The Path of Totality released later that year.
"Introbra" is an ominous intro with a distorted siren in the background of Durst announcing the band's return. It's definitely a different start compared to Significant Other and having a similar vibe to Slipknot's album intros. However, things start off anticlimactic with the annoying "Bring It Back" that would work better in a club than a metal concert. The title track is a much better single, having their typical modern nu/rap metal/rock sound. I'm familiar with that one because I've seen its music video on TV when I was younger. "Shark Attack" continues their nu metal attack. The choruses in "Get a Life" has more rage, though the verses have gone back to simple hip-hop.
My favorite track here "Shotgun" attacks with the band's earlier humor and heaviness of Significant Other. Anyone here caught off-guard by the awesome rare guitar soloing? There's more rapping present in "D****e Bag", "I'mma f*** you up! F*** you, f*** you, f*** you up!" Then "Walking Away" has more of a modern rock sound that actually works well. Same with "Loser" that also has some rapping in proper use.
Attempting to parody an aspect often thought atrocious in music, "Autotunage" has Durst singing in autotune, and that never really suits him well at all. "90.2.10" is almost at the brink of being a waste of time similar to the previous track, but the awesome drumming by John Otto's acts as the song's saving grace. "Why Try" displays Durst's lyrics advancing into admirable territory. "Killer in You" shows Wes Borland performing some riffing similarly to Black Sabbath but more grinding. With that and the song's immense kick-A midsection, this track is a total closing highlight.
Gold Cobra is a decent offering with songs to entertain you and make you nostalgic, all in a pleasant comeback. Still it's slightly behind Significant Other in quality, and it doesn't change the fact that they're one of the most hated bands around. It might make you glad that nu metal was dying out. Nonetheless, you can definitely rock out to the highlights. No matter how much the band might f*** things up, Limp Bizkit will have at least several open-minded listeners to please....
Favorites: "Gold Cobra", "Shark Attack", "Shotgun", "Walking Away", "Loser", "Killer in You"