Cortez – Thieves And Charlatans
by Mark ‘Yeti’ Richard · November 4, 2024
Cortez is a heavy rock/ stoner metal band from Boston, Massachusetts. The band formed in 2006 and just released their latest album, Thieves And Charlatans on Ripple Music, on October 18th, 2024. The current lineup includes Matt Harrington on vocals, Scott O’Dowd on guitar, Alasdair Swan on guitar, Jay Furlo on bass, and Kyle Rasmussen on drums. Alexei Rodriguez played drums on the record. Cortez’s last release was 2020’s Sell The Future, which was also on Ripple Music. Other past releases from the band include: 2007’s debut EP, Thunder In A Forgotten Town, 2013’s Self Titled, 2017’s The Depths Below, and their debut for Ripple, 2018’s Chapter 9: Cortez And Wasted Theory split.
Lead off track “Gimme Danger (On My Stereo)” starts the album off with a heavy rocking, classic metal sounding song. It’s pretty straightforward in its simplicity and very well executed. Matt Harrington’s high register vocals give the song a nineties vibe. The guitar riffs channel a traditional rock rhythm and the guitar leads inject a nice metal dose of nostalgia. The second song “Leaders Of Nobody” starts with a heavy doom riff that trudges into a metallic chugging. The melodic singing style of Harrington’s voice commands the song in a catchy cadence of a nice streamlined rhythm. The galloping drums with the excellent guitar leads spice up the song elegantly. Cortez are masters of aerodynamic guitar harmonies and fluid riffs. “Stove Up” revisits a more stoner rock groove and is a tribute to the band’s former guitarist Tony D’Agostino. The song was partially written back in the Thunder In A Forgotten Town era, and reworked to be included on Thieves And Charlatans. It’s a great song with a different feel than the others but gives the album a nice variance.
“No Heroes” is the next tune, and has a nice mid pace wallop to it. There’s nothing fancy about this song but it’s just got a solid rhythm and tasty guitar leads. The vocals are great and anchors the song forward with excellent melodies. The next song “Levels” is fantastic! It starts off slow with clean guitars and builds up from there. The muted picking in the verse swells into more dynamic riffing as the song continues on. The patience in the accumulation of the song pick up is awesome. Cortez has a subtle way of mounting the song into a heavier structure both musically and vocally. The eight plus minute song is a strong complement of what Cortez does very well. “Odds Are” has a traditional metal feel to it with blazing guitar leads and staggered step drumming. It’s a cool song that has great dual guitar harmonies akin to Iron Maiden.
The seventh track “Liminal Spaces” hammers on more classic riffing and a neat effect on Harrington’s voice as he begins singing. Most of the songs on Thieves And Charlatans are pretty lengthy on average in the five to eight minute range. This gives Cortez the ammunition to build up and craft their riffs in harmonic mastery. Every song is constructed around the framework of great riffs and solid drumming enhanced by powerful vocals and harmonizing guitar solos. The eighth and final track on the album is called “Solace”. It’s another top level song that divides the melodies from the heavy riffing perfectly.
Cortez has crafted another highly appealing record with Thieves And Charlatans. The songs all gel together cohesively and construct beautifully together. The music does grow stronger with every listen and I can really appreciate the precise songwriting that went into the making of this album. The perfect alliance of hard rock and heavy metal is achieved on Thieves And Charlatans.
