Denver Metal Group Cobranoid Does What It Wants, When It Wants

Cobranoid is preparing to strike.

The Mile High metal group has been spreading its sonic venom since forming in 2021, but this month will mark the release of its self-titled debut album.

The power trio of Kyle Gaso (guitar and vocals), Logan O'Connor (bass) and Kevin Wylie (drums) always planned to put out an album, but figured that tapping into the vein of the city’s scene first and foremost would be the best plan of attack.

“I mean, who doesn’t want an album when they first start a band? But we were just hungry to play live, then really started honing the songwriting,” Gaso explains. “By the time we got to the studio, we had a pretty solid grasp on the songs.”

With three of the record’s six tracks previously released as singles, it’s clear that Cobranoid is ready for a more proper introduction. Recorded at the Crash Pad Studio with Bart McCrorey, also of Denver sludge outfit Messiahvore, such songs as “Flesh and Bone” and “Hyena” showcase the band’s range, from doomier desert rock to straight-up speed metal. The upcoming debut is hard to pin down in that sense, but that’s why they like to call it “Denver metal speed doom.”

“It’s diverse, the whole ‘speed doom’ tag. We’re not fast enough to be thrash metal, and we’re not slow enough to be sludge metal,” O’Connor shares. “I feel like ‘speed doom’ defines us pretty well. It’s different and kind of all over the place. We can pretty much do whatever we want.”
That includes having a song about the 1984 fantasy film The NeverEnding Story, titled “N.E.S.,” as part of the introductory offering. Even though it started as a gag, the track became a proggy pursuit to capture the roller coaster of emotions people experience while watching the coming-of-age tale. Who can ever forget the trauma and heartbreak of the swamp scene? (Trigger warning: If you love horses, you might not want to watch.)

“We were joking about The NeverEnding Story, like, ‘You should write a song about The NeverEnding Story.’ I went, ‘Okay,’ and I wrote it,” Gaso says. “I wanted it to be looser in its interpretation, flow with highs and lows, fast and slows, clean and aggressive. Wanted it to have a weirder feel to it.”

And it does.

“When we were recording that song with Bart, I remember just getting some really strange looks from him because that song is highs and lows and all over the place,” O’Connor adds. “It was like, ‘What the fuck are you guys doing here? You’re all over the fucking place.’”

But that’s Cobranoid. The three amigos, who had played together in other bands before forming Cobranoid, aren’t afraid to put it all out there as long as it feels right.

“What you’re getting is all the front-running emotions that we were all going through starting this band and wanting to be that speed doom power trio and carve our name out and do the best we can to separate ourselves,” Gaso adds. “To have that inspiration but also that desire to set yourself apart from the status quo — I think that’s what we tried to do with this album.”

Fair enough. Cobranoid is hosting a release show on Friday, August 16, the day the debut drops, at HQ. Valiomierda, Riff Dealer and Crypt Keeper round out the all-local bill.

Cobranoid and its varied sound are the brainchild of Gaso, who stewed over the concept and the music he would eventually make while getting sober in a southern Colorado clinic. He felt isolated and alone watching the turmoil happening in his hometown and across the globe during his time there, from 2019 until he moved back to Denver in early 2021.

“It was scary looking at what was happening to the world at the time. That fueled some of the songwriting, too, watching things unravel from a distance in a small town,” he says. “Watching the riots all over the world but also in Denver, and being far away and going, ‘That’s my hometown. I should be there for the right cause.’ That really fueled a lot of my vitriol in some of the songs and my desire to get back to town.”

As he sees it, he had “unfinished business” to take care of.

“I was hungry,” Gaso admits, while recalling a conversation he had with McCrorey at that time. “Before I even had the name Cobranoid, I had joked that I have unfinished business in Denver, and when I come back, I’m coming back with venom.”

“That’s scary, man,” Wylie interjects.

“That’s how I felt,” Gaso answers.

Right away, O’Connor and Wylie recognized Gaso wasn’t messing around. Armed with a bevy of new ideas and song structures, Cobranoid got to work and hasn’t slowed down since.

“It feels like Kyle was in a writing lab of sorts. I was blown away with how much material he had,” O’Connor remembers. “I thought we were just going to jam some Motörhead covers and just have some fun. As soon as he started laying down some actual music he had written, I was like, ‘Where the fuck is all this coming from?’”

“There’s not a lot to do out there,” Gaso quips.

“He’d send me videos,” Wylie adds.

“I’d call him when I was still drinking and lie to him that I was sober, as alcoholics do,” Gaso admits, adding that he didn’t leave Denver on his own terms, but alcohol’s.

“Once I got sober, I started playing guitar again and writing the first formulative songs for this band,” he continues. “For me, Cobranoid is really a necessity for me to reclaim some kind of an identity and get back what I had lost through my own issues. I was just really excited to come back and do it.”

Wylie didn’t think twice about teaming up with his longtime running mate, and quickly recruited O’Connor.

“It meshed pretty well right away,” O’Connor says.

The three aren’t strangers to the Denver metal scene, having been in various other bands throughout the years. But Cobranoid is entirely different from anything they’ve done before. For Wylie, it’s simple.

“To me, it’s just a good way to beat the shit out of my drum set. I live for that. I can work eight hours and still just want to get behind that drum kit. Dead, beat, no energy, but still just want to play drums,” he explains. “Cobranoid is a way for me to come down here, talk shit with my friends and beat the snot out of my drums.”

O’Connor shares a similar sentiment. “This is the kind of music I always wanted to play,” he says. “I always wanted to play heavier shit like this.”

As the coils of the Cobranoid serpent unwind, the trio looks to bring doom speed to more and more unsuspecting masses. The band is currently booked out until the end of the year, and don’t be surprised if Cobranoid blows up after the new album comes out: It’s an absolute ripper. Just wait until you hear “Doom Shark.”

“I think we represent an aspect of the Denver scene that needs to be seen elsewhere,” Gaso says. “We feel right at home playing with most genres. We like to be amalgamists in what we’re able to fit with.”

And this is only the beginning. After spending years formulating what Cobranoid is and will be, there’s still some unfinished business to tend to, according to Gaso, who credits being in this type of band for his ongoing recovery.

“My vision for Cobranoid — it’s a tough question to dissect, in a way. Cobranoid was my answer to my alcoholism. I know that’s not the funnest answer, but that was really something big for me,” he says. “I had lost a lot because of it. Once I got sober and started writing again, I needed to prove to myself that I had an ability to do something, and I could do this without thinking alcohol was a muse or the only way that you can be rock and roll.”

The bandmates flanking him give a supportive nod. It’s just after 8 p.m. on a Thursday, the group’s designated night for a weekly practice, so it’s time to tune up and plug in. But before leaving, Gaso wraps up with a simple note: “I really love this band.”

Cobranoid, with Valiomierda, Riff Dealer and Crypt Keeper, 8 p.m. Friday, August 16, HQ, 60 South Broadway. Tickets are $10.