Review: Cortez ‘Thieves And Charlatans’
Having spent a lot of time this year dallying around with post-metal, dreamy, ethereal music and some serious bludgeon, my wandering attention span was clearly craving some old-fashioned, bluesy shit-kicking rock and roll.
Like an austerity-minded Genie (by which I mean the quota of wishes was slashed to one due to departmental budget cuts), Boston-based heavy rock five-piece Cortez slammed into my consciousness with the lead single Odds Are from their fourth album Thieves And Charlatans.
immediate and upbeat with plenty of hooks, the raucous track features killer riffs, a bouncing groove and incendiary lead work that shows off the chemistry between guitarists Scott O’Dowd and Alasdair Swan. Built around a robust chug with rumbling bass, it is the kind of track that can make you feel good about a journey to work on a Monday morning, and Matt Harrington’s vocals grab you from the get-go.
With an anthemic chorus that offers the salient hope and mental health advice, ‘There’s nothing wrong with your crazy thoughts, you’re not fucking up, you’re surviving’, the track was a constant staple in my house long before the promo dropped in for review, such was its ability to put a smile on my face with the life-affirming honesty of blue-collar heavy music.
But in all this excitement, I am getting slightly ahead of myself…
The Beantown natives have been plying their trade since 2007 when they released their debut EP Thunder In A Forgotten Town. Whilst they can’t boast the most prolific output with their three albums coming at a rate of one every four-ish years (2012’s self-titled debut, sophomore The Depths Below in 2017 and 2020s Sell The Future) it comes as no surprise to hear that the DNA for Thieves And Charlatans was built during the pandemic. The vacuum of creating music with no outside feedback has resulted in Cortez diversifying their sound to incorporate a more complex sound than just Black Sabbath worship.
Starting with the high-octane sugar rush of Gimme Danger, Cortex smashes out of the blocks with a crunching party anthem and Harrington soars over the buzzing guitars with an eighties rock-sounding party number. Featuring a catchy chorus and dramatic fretboard pyrotechnics over a muscular guitar riff, cowbell and thunderous drumming from Alexei Rodriguez (who has since been replaced by Kyle Rasmussen), this is rock and roll injected straight into your veins like a drug.
After the ninety-mile-an-hour start, Leaders Of Nobody slows the pace with a long, slow, doom-laden opening that bristles under the mournful air. The main riff rocks back and forth and with guest vocals from Jim Healey (We’re All Gonna Die) the lyrics plead with the listener, especially on the killer line ‘Wake up, don’t you see, we’re wasting all our energy, with all the all-consuming lies’ before the twin guitars rip into a delicious galloping middle section and solo.
“Their latest album has talent in buckets and, in just short of an hour, they demonstrate exactly why Ripple Music signed them…”
Stove Up dips into the band’s riff bank by using material written at the time of the 2007 EP with a more classical, crashing swing. Joined by Craig Riggs (Roadsaw), Harrington continues to raise his game as the band go through a more traditional blues workout that bounces with heavy grooves and allows the individual members to shine with extra flourishes in what feels like a ‘70s stadium rock workout.
The chopping metronome of No Heroes returns to the harder-edged, moodier side of the band. The sawing tempo of the mid-paced stomper gets you nodding your head as Alexi Rodriguez hammers the kit and then somehow manages to put even more energy into the melodic slower section in the middle. Benny Grotto and Alan Douches, who handled the recording and mastering respectively, deserve a nod for managing to make Cortez sound a million bucks on one of the most epic and lively albums I have heard this year.
Levels starts with a gloomy bassline and tapping, brushed drums as the slow-burning track unfolds. Whilst Harrington’s centre-stage vocals dominate the first part of the creeping and sinister atmosphere, the band grow around him and build as the tension and malice increase until they finally let go. As the gritty, sprawling eight-minute number unfolds, Riggs returns once more for the gruff gang vocal as Cortez treats the listener to unsettling harmonies and an exercise in power in this multi-layered workout.
After the gung-ho blast of Odds Are, the follow-up Liminal Spaces rides high on a riff that could be like the bastard cousin of Sabbath’s Under The Sun as they lead you through one of their longer numbers. Thumping toms and fuzzy riffing grab you by the scruff of the neck under the echoing, vulnerable vocals before taking you off on another head-nodding journey. When they slam you into the full-throated passages and machine gun-like pummelling, you are involuntarily throwing horns into the air before being dazzled by the histrionic soloing and the raging climax. It’s quite a ride.
The muted guitar opening of Solace comes as a slight relief, but the band aren’t willing to go quietly and swing for the fences with a big rock finish that oscillates between the thoughtful, restrained vocals and the triumphant bombast. As the band pour every ounce into bringing all their guns to bear in the most emotionally charged moments of Thieves And Charlatans, you can almost feel the swell of confidence in their art radiating through them.
Once in a while, an album comes along that simply demands your attention. Cortez may play themselves off as having ‘a straight-ahead, don’t-need-nuthin’-fancy-when-you-can-rock-like-this attitude’ but that humbling downplaying of their skillset sells themselves very, very short. Their latest album has talent in buckets and, in just short of an hour, they demonstrate exactly why Ripple Music signed them with their career-best release to date.
As the nights draw long and my end-of-year list starts to play on my mind, Thieves And Charlatans just swaggered into my top ten and took a seat.
Scribed by: Mark Hunt-Bryden
