When touring Canada some years back, I came across a little known band called the Black Hand. My old band happened to play their first show and it took me aback. Even though every word in between their songs was in French, it was so intense that no matter what language they were speaking, you felt it.

A few years later, the Black Hand is now dead, but Cobra Noir rises in its place. Featuring members from the aforementioned band as well as Ire and In Dying Days, you could say that this is one French super-group for the underground punk/hardcore scene. Relying heavily on the roads that His Hero Is Gone, Uranus and Motörhead built, Cobra Noir (with every member of the band's names resembling that of a snake) believe that grit and dirt are what make a good song.

The layout is really one of my favorites in recent memory; it's just of old, abandoned buildings with a green hue to the entire thing. Abode of the Dead was one of the records that I was really looking forward to hearing and it does not disappoint. Although quite a dense record, once you peel back the layers you realize just how amazing it is.