Album review: Cold Steel – Discipline & Punish

Your first thought on listening to Cold Steel’s metal thrashing mad debut is, ‘I’ve heard this before.’ You haven’t, but so accurately do the Floridian newcomers echo the nascent days of extreme metal that you’re at least instantly at home with it. In exactly three minutes, opener No Escape acts as a microcosm for the album as a whole – bomb drop riffs, throaty vocals and, best of all, the kind of epic time changes only legends like Metallica do better.

Indeed, successive tracks like Protocol and Front To Enemy confirm that there’s much of the confrontational about this album. Championed by Trivium mainman Matt Heafy who has acted as adviser while helping with pre-production and arrangements, Cold Steel are a guilty pleasure – especially on the heavy as hell but smirk-inducing Blacksmith Of Damnation. It’s a track with a voracious appetite for exploring all old school thrash’s dark corners. Whether you were around the first time or not, you can’t help but grit your teeth and nod your head at its power and knowing silliness.

This debut blasts them out like a trip-wired missile launcher, all shrapnel and spunk, while the band strides forward at its epicentre, flexing from gruff chorus to surging time change to another hulk of a riff. Its second stand-out track has to be Smoking Mirrors, literally the only time Cold Steel change course. Here they nudge hip-hop into their usual bombast, proving the young outfit does have the potential to reach into new areas – they’re not just here to rebrand and reheat.

While tracks like Killing Season run close to formula, the general picture is one of thunderous riffs and hooks shouty enough to wake sleeping giants. For a band fresh out of the blocks, this is an instantaneously enjoyable start. It’s an echo of the old school that could, with time, dig out a few new foundations.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Machine Head, Power Trip, Kreator

Discipline & Punish is released on November 7 via Spinefarm