Based in Tilburg in the Netherlands but comprised of members from Italy, The Ukraine, The Netherlands and France, Cobra Spell are a truly multinational concern whose music is a multi-decade-spanning exposition of the glory of melodic heavy metal.

Their just-released four track EP is a veritable delight for the ears, with a classic feel wrapped in a shiny, punch production courtesy of guitarist Sonia Anubis and Spaniard Alejandro Gabasa Barcoj.

You’ll remember Anubis from her time in Burning Witches, of course, but Cobra Spell are nowhere near that band in style; they look like American rockers Madam X, but their music is a sleek hybrid of eighties US metal and the more melodic tropes of names like the Scorpions or Krokus. Each track on the EP highlights the superior guitar skills of Anubis and six string partner Esmée van Sinderen; however the arrangements never allow the songs to descend into mere shredfests, with vocalist Alexx Panza – the recumbent throat in Jack Starr’s Burning Starr, which is another nice pointer to the type of music we’re dealing with here – shouldering a lot of the workload with an impressive, at times wild-eyed performance.

Good stuff, then, and tracks like the superb opening one-two of Addicted To The Night and The Midnight Hour point to a bright future for this band of hopefuls. Have a listen and enjoy!