El Chupa Cobras belong to the breed of bands that, aside from having amusing names also have extremely short attention spans and exponentially spastic approach to creating music. This kind of music is never easy to pull of on record. Live, the sheer energy of each member immersing him/herself in the music on stage could be enough to provide for a memorable evening at the very least. But making it enjoyable in the comfort of your apartment requires a certain talent that few musicians have. More often than not it will be a frustrating listening experience, one that demands a concentration of gargantuan proportions. El Chupa Cobras has elements of satisfaction as well as parts that for different reasons keep niggling at you and irritating you. They're certainly talented and a good band, although not even this kind of music is very unique these days.
Let's first of all dispel of the notion that just because a band is a dizzying mix of styles and produce songs that are discordant and don't follow a certain pattern that they are automatically original. Without too much thinking it's a simple process in finding where El Chupa Cobras draw their influences from. The seminal Jesus Lizard is the obvious conclusion but there are also traces of cult band Shai Hulud in these eleven progressive hardcore songs, which in my opinion is not a negative thing at all.
What makes their self-titled debut ultimately weigh in at a more positive rating is the fact that the sheer relentlessness and energy of the music really does tend to carry you away. The way they effortlessly jump between punk, all-out rock'n roll, grind and Dillinger Escape Plan-type freakouts makes a fan of heavy music salivate. Unfortunately El Chupa Cobras have decided that short, quick jabs are preferable than drawn out attacks on body and mind and try to throw in as many elements as possible in a song that is no longer than two-and-a-half minutes which diminishes the effect. A song like "Prison Wallet" really would have benefited from having the parts that make a whole more elaborate. As it stands, El Chupa Cobras wait until the final song, the odd-titled "Chocolate Mask" to really indulge in their influences and just let them selves go over a longer period of time. That would have been highly beneficial had it been attempted from the start, but unfortunately a lot of the songs simply leave a trace of noise behind without any major part being glued to your memory. Chaos can be a beautiful thing in music if it is given enough space to breathe. This debut is a decent start but more will be required of the follow up.
