Cooter Brown: Burning a Silver Bullet
Burning a Silver Bullet
Cooter Brown Album Review
By Boris Lee
Artwork by Bill Bronson
Catchy creativity does not come easy. Creating is easy. There’s nothing to it. Anyone can write a story, song, cook a dinner, draw or paint. Just because anyone can create, does not mean what they create is a masterpiece, bestseller, top charting hit, or delicious. Those who create with success have a hook to grab their audience and reel them in. Hooking the listeners in for some good vibe music is precisely what Cooter Brown does on their self-titled debut release.
Hailing out Los Angeles, Cooter Brown is; Grant Masson on guitar, Scottiey Kessler on bass, Tom Oz on drums and Robert Cruz providing lead vocals. The guys in the group have a cool chemistry that transfers into the creative concept of the music. Cooter Brown’s music is not going to be categorized as “Metal,” but definitely dives into the “Heavy Rock” end of the “Tunage” pool.
For the album opener, Cooter Brown’s knuckle bruising riffs and Rob Zombie styled growls run down the rampage that is “Knucklebuster.” The song is solid and showcases Grant’s ability to play a heavy riff that sounds simple in tone, but is complex in creativity, reminding me of Ritchie Blackmore. Some of Blackmore’s guitar work sounded simple, but when you listened further or tried to learn the song on guitar, the secrets hidden in the writing were released in riff rapture. The same can be said about the guitar work on “Knucklebuster.”
“Burning.” A shuffle rock riff from Grant grooves along with solid rhythm strums and beats, while Robert’s vocals complete the catchy cacophony in a complimentary fashion.’’
“Silver Bullet” solidifies the self-titled release from Cooter Brown as All Killer No Filler.
“Dust Bowl,” dances down the dungeon of “Doom Rock,” with a Corrosion of Conformity feel and flow that carries on throughout the album. While other songs on the Cooter Brown debut release showcase the musicians, individual talents transcending together into one harmonized musical flow, “Dust Bowl” is conducted by Grant’s guitar riffs. The tempo changes to the song have more of a Sabbath feel, and Robert’s vocals have a haunting Marylin Manson feel.
The band slows things down with the closing track, “Goodbye To Them,” which is another riff heavy hammering of destruction denoting the idea of leaving things behind for the better. I envision riding a chrome piped black beauty out of the sun doused California deserts, leaving behind familiarity to risk the rewards of something new.
Cooter Brown present a positive flowing debut full of heavy guitar riffs, venomous vocals and raging rhythm work that should resonate with a broad group of heavy rock fans, particularly in my age bracket. These tunes do not feel dated and touch on a few styles while remaining true to the core creative concepts. I give the album 4 out of 5 raised horns. To learn more about Cooter Brown, and to purchase the debut release, click the links below.
To learn more about Symptom of the Metalverse author, Boris Lee, you can checkout his website and blog by clicking the links below. Lee’s book, The Shadows of Insanity, is nominated for Best Thriller of 2020. A link to vote for his book can be found on his website. To purchase a copy of Lee’s book, click the link below. Follow Boris Lee on Facebook and Instagram.
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