Blender
May 2003
Cobra Verde
Easy Listening

Passionate post-glam indie-rock expressly for punks who like a little glitter in the gutter.
With absolutely no shame and just the right amount of irony, Cobra Verde embrace classic-rock posturing with all of its messy emotional overreach, wanky-yet-tasteful guitar solos and bombastic songcraft. Fortunately, Cobra head John Petkovic and four of his pals -- who have been cranking out smart glosses on old forms since the mid-'90s, reaching an apex on 1999's brilliant "Nightlife" -- are convincingly good at bringing arena-size pomp to underground rock clubs. Petkovic is fond of glam's cartoonish metaphors ("Modified Frankenstein," a muted New York Dolls moment) and fondness for storytelling (the Bic-lighter power ballad "Throw It Away"). The title "To Your Pretty Face" telegraphs the record's glammest moment, but all of "Easy Listening" glitters in the spotlight. -- Joe Gross