CORTEZ – Thieves And Charlatans

2024 (Ripple Music) – Style: Heavy Rock

Hard rock, psychedelic rock, the former a little less classic 80s, more 90s, slightly doomy. Definitely following traditions and very beautifully performed. The melodic, but sometimes really rusty voice is charismatic. The singing is full of passion and great emotion. What is noticeable is that the band likes to play around the corner, incorporating more complicated and really odd rhythms into their songs. That can be said about many bands, but also about CORTEZ on their fourth album.

Where have the others gone? They passed me by like wild geese on their way south. Which is not surprising considering the amount of music that there is to discover every day. What a pity? When I listen to the new album, then yes. As I wrote, this is good music based on older classics, which presents itself as edgy, dirty and intensely bubbling hard rock. Maybe even a little primitively punky in the end. But always a potential hit. And that’s something you have to achieve these days. All the melodies are written, all the chord sequences are played.

What makes CORTEZ so awesome? The passion in their performance, the intensity of their songs, the variety (what a degenerate word these days, thanks, society) of tricks and gimmicks from the heavy rocker’s handbook. Driving heavy rock with an angry punk attitude opens, followed immediately by doom with a lively grooving base and some more driving moments, plus vocal melodies that explode with wild emotions and lead guitar solos that erupt and are always full of exciting twists. And so hooks develop that cling to your soul. This is how you can play traditional heavy rock and still keep it fresh. And especially in the second song ‘Leaders Of Nobody’ I have to highlight the solos at the end. Sometimes almost folky, sometimes epically floating. Always staged with such lust. Or just the invitation in the chorus of the opening ‘Gimme Danger’. “Gimme danger from my stereo”. Yes, rock’n’roll has to become dangerous again and by that I don’t mean retarded neo-Nazi punk rock bunglers or ritually murdering black metal satanists. ‘Stove Up’ has a twisted, dancing rhythm and openly shows the love for the earthy, hard sound of the early 70s. Same as with the other songs. Hellishly boiling lead guitars that peel the skin off your face and riffs that sound gripping and somehow familiar, but always represent the eviler and more daring grandsons of the 70s heroes. THIN LIZZY, UFO, BLACK SABBATH, GRAND FUNK RAILROAD, MOUNTAIN, they all have their place in the collection of the musicians in CORTEZ and are probably absorbed in a state of religious ecstasy in the band’s ritual listening sessions. That’s just the way it is.

There is nothing innovative here. But my soul is really burning right now. For me, alongside CURSE THE SUN, this is the cult discovery at “Ripple Music” for this year and they really have it coming in 2024. The year itself is extremely well stocked with great, fresh music and CORTEZ are contenders for the TOP 20 for me.

(9 points)
-Sir Lord Doom
November 29, 2024