78/100
Written by Chris W. Lao
The EDM community has experienced some enormous gains and losses over the past month with the passing away of Avicii and the announcement that Mightyfools will be splitting up after ten years of making music together. On the brighter side of things, Swedish House Mafia has come back to set the world on fire once again with their highly-anticipated reunion at Ultra Music Festival 2018. Last Friday, one of the IDs played during their set has finally been released on Axwell’s label, Axtone! “Cobra” will be the first of three singles from Magnificence’s EP, scheduled for a full release on 11th of May.
The duo’s first single is titled “Cobra”, which many fans had already predicted, and the track stays fairly close to Axtone’s style of bass-heavy music with a new-age soulful element.
What sets this track apart from the other Axtone releases is that this one is more heavily geared towards mainstage sets. Its heavy emphasis on the four on the floor beat through vocal chops & tribal percussion makes this a perfect song to maintain momentum and keep the crowd interested during a set.
Going deeper into the structure, “Cobra” itself is very short owing to the decision to follow a typical groove and tribal structure… Also, curious choice, it starts with the buildup part. The thirty-second build is fairly simple and uninteresting but is saved only by the melodic flourishes coming from a tribal woodwind instrument. When the drop hits, that’s what makes this track interesting: the tight basswork and modern percussion choices is sure to get your body swaying. What adds even more character are the power chords which helps emphasize the beat even further. The break continues to accentuate the beat while adding a healthy dose of syncopation and woodwind melodies to keep the ball rolling. The second build sneaks up on you and leads back into the same drop as the first.
The first time you hear it, you can vaguely recognize some of the sounds from their previous release on Revealed, “With You”, but they seem to have forgone all of their progressive roots for this track and I’m okay with that.
To summarize: “Cobra” is a nice departure from Magnificence’s previous styles but is not anything particularly memorable on its own. For me, it reminds of Will K’s tracks like RIU and others from that era in his genre, but that is by no means a bad thing. The unique drop and tribal flare are the distinctive features of this track which take it a step above average, but the simplistic arrangement keeps it from being transcendant.
You can listen to “Cobra” here:
What do you think?
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