Cough – Sigillum Luciferi
Review by John Pegoraro (StonerRock.com)
Forcefield Records
Release date: 2008


I generally try not to steal directly from other people's reviews, but this comment on Cough's excellent Sigillum Luciferi really says it all: “Now that doom has largely moved on to artier pastures it's nice to hear something raw and dirty like this, more at home in the welfare line then the art gallery” (courtesy Dave Don't Try).

Because that's pretty much what this six song slab of slow 'n' heavy is: guttural sludge-doom that's stripped down and primal, tapping into the same raw energy that made Buried at Sea's Migration, Weedeater's Sixteen Tons, and Electric Wizard's Dopethrone the classics they are. There's a bit of each three of those albums in Sigillum Luciferi - the crushing, seething rage of Buried at Sea, the crushing grooves of Weedeater, and the crushing, stoner-atmospheric doom riffs of Electric Wizard. That's a whole lot of crushing going on (best exemplified on “Hole in the Infinite.” Or “Northern Plague.” Wait, I meant “Shallow Grave”) and in lesser hands the songs would decompose into one loud, turgid morass of ungainly riffs – especially since half of the tracks creep past the ten minute mark . Not so with Cough. It may be raw and dirty, but it's also smartly done. Recommended.

URL: http://www.myspace.com/cough666

Cough is a rather new project on the Sludge/Stoner Doom front featuring a trio of musicians, for once on the East coast of America. Since 2005 Cough have been playing their toked up and blasphemic style of nearly satanic sludge doom metal. Having seemingly stolen the drummer from The Sword* (though a good decision it was as The Sword's reviews don't seem to be the best these days) and with both David Cisco and Parker Chandier on vocal duties in the absence of Chris Kirby, Cough packs a hard-hitting old school punch from the sludge doom side with a very psychedelic atmosphere to smoke up the room to.
The listener who receives this album will initially notice the interesting artwork, Silver on black artwork featuring ornate drawing that include, amongst other things, pentagrams, marijuana leaves, and a hendecagram, or an eleven-pointed star. Typically the eleven-pointed star (11/2) is used in the Aleister Crowley Foundation as its primary symbol, but the one featured on the album cover is of 11/4 symbology. The artwork here describes, pretty much in complete detail, what you're about to find throughout the music. Heavy layers of Blasphemy with perhaps a bit of a misanthropic mix, and the heavy fog of pot smoke and Black Sabbath worship to add a bit of green flavor to the mix.
The production on the album is of the highest quality and is definitely of note as well, as the ever-increasingly well known producer Sanford Parker (perhaps known primarily for his work with the psychedelic black metallers Nachtmystium) managed to get his grubby little paws on this beauty as well. As you'd expect, we've got pretty traditional doom vocals at first but quickly the album turns into a blackened pit of despair and hatred. With production like this and the backing of a label quickly making a name for themselves in Forcefield Records, Cough really stands a large chance in making a name for themselves in this scene, and perhaps even becoming one of the forerunners with the likes of the Southern Lord crew. One of the better releases to come out of the Sludge Hell this year.
http://www.HeathenHarvest.com/article.php?story=2008122311091698
*Joey used to jam with Richmond brothers SWORD before changing their name to LORD BY FIRE. Honest mistake!

Cough
Sigillum Luciferi
By Chris Ayers

A few years back, Virginia's Cough set out to be the loudest and heaviest band in their hometown of Richmond, and they've come one clubfooted step closer with the debut full-length, Sigillum Luciferi. Exhaling with a wicked Electric Wizard hack, the ten-minute "Killing Fields" kicks off the down-tuned doomfest with elongated, feedback-drenched chords, à la Eyehategod. "Hole in the Infinite" calls to Iron Monkey, while "288 Years of Sin" (from 2006's Kingdom EP) adds David Cisco's Southern rock-influenced soloing. The plodding "Northern Plague" gives Cisco increased room to eke out more solos in between Chris Kirby's throaty, Weedeater-like growls. Kirby puts echo on his vocals in the aptly titled "Shallow Grave," while the nine-minute "Lyssavirus" again nudges Cisco into the spotlight with molasses-dripping chords and Joey Arcano's tree branch-wielding drum assaults. Recorded by doom farer Sanford Parker (Indian, Buried at Sea, Minsk), Sigillum Luciferi gives Cough maximum momentum for metal dominance in slow motion. (ForceField)

website:
Exclaim!
http://exclaim.ca/musicreviews/generalreview.aspx?csid1=122&csid2=846&fid1=31376

If ever there was a CD cover that encapsulated the sounds within, its Cough's full length debut; black embossed visage of upside down crosses, pot leaves and pentagrams indicating an unholy marriage of stoner/sludge/doom and black metal.

Review:

With nods to EyeHateGod, Iron Monkey, Thou, Highgate, Negative Reaction and such, Richmond's Cough deliver six long tracks of feedback filled, screeching, sludgy metal filled with some dark lyrics delivered with harsh, pained screams.

Fans of the above mentioned band have probably already heard the band's My Kingdom EP, from which "288 Days of Sin" is culled, along with five new tracks, and those fans will probably acknowledge Cough as one of sludge metal's rising, caustic stars and rightly so. Vocalist Davis Cisco has a tortured shriek littered with a few clean groans here and there while the Sanford Parker (Minsk, Rwake, Nachtmystium, Yakuza, etc) production delivers distorted, sickly, oozing riffs that rumble and slough with a low grumble and sneering menace.

The six tracks are each, scab picking, paranoid displays of death knell hacks and open wound seepage with Cisco's occasional groans being the only real issue I have (i.e. "Killing Fields", "288 Days of Sin", "Shallow Grave") as I prefer the more grating screams that fit the music as the likes of "Hole in the Infinite", "Northern Plague" and painful crawl of closer "Lyssavirus", that suck you into a blackened, bluesy, sludgy abyss.

This isn't playful, munchies and giggles stoner sludge, but a coked out, pick at your skin, teeth fall out, rotten gum and puss filled sores styled sludge that belongs in the gutters of hell.

Erik Thomas

I suppose it's fitting that a band named COUGH has a vocalist who sings like he's hawking phlegm from a diseased bronchial. COUGH come from the way, way extreme end of the stoner/doom spectrum, so despondent with life and living they load up their bowls with a mixture of marijuana and rat poison, filling the bong with arsenic, water and hemlock. If that sounds enticing, then read on.

Basically, COUGH felt that SLEEP played things just a little too quick and hasty for their tastes, so they took the slowest, most detuned passages from that legendary stoner band and somehow ruptured the space/time continuum to slow them down even more. And I mean slow. The first song starts off with three minutes of one blaring feedback note while a single, distorted-beyond-all-recognition chord pounds out like a gorilla banging its chest in the background. This song is so slow I could actually feel my arteries hardening between drum beats. Continents have crumbled in the time it takes them to complete one riff.

As the originality of their name implies (I get it, a stoner band named COUGH, clever) you're not going to find anything innovative here; no amazing guitar passages, fantastic groovy bottom end or riffs that make you scream to heaven for salvation. I could write about the individual songs, but why bother? There's the slow one with the long feedback intro or the slower one with the longer feedback intro. This is a pummeling, consciousness-destroying relentless din of distortion with no discernible pulse. That's not to say these guys aren't committed to what they do, but it clearly ain't for everyone. This will never fill the dance floor, for example, except with expectorating bodies waiting in line to commit group suicide.

For those who like their stoner-metal along the lines of FU MANCHU, MR PLOW or KYUSS, this probably isn't for you - no melody, no groove. But for those who've just been dying to hear masses of impossibly detuned chords, played unfeasibly slowly with the vocal hacking of a tuberculin lung, load up your bong and give these guys a try.


- Severin

Cough – "Kingdom" EP

Self Released

Predating their forthcoming debut full-length, Sigillum Luciferi on Richmond, Virginia's Forcefield Records, is the four-song Kingdom EP by sludge monkeys Cough. Setting out to be the "loudest and heaviest band in Richmond," this four-piece adds more depth to the subgenre alongside Cavity, Bongzilla, and Hawg Jaw.

Beginning with Iron Monkey-ish feedback, "The Misanthrope" lopes along with a retarded Electric Wizard gait, while "How to Survive Beneath the Earth" mixes Melvins-esque breaks and Theory of Ruin-like guitar tones with vocalist Chris Kirby's Quintaine Americana-styled drawl, repeated monotonously for the final two minutes.

With David Cisco's bloodied axe wailing throughout, "288 Years of Sin" again invokes Iron Monkey before tearing into harsher vocals and jagged riffage like the Abominable Iron Sloth. "As You Were" sports the thunderous, stuttering cadence of -16- then Torche for the first half, then changes tempos to induce an ugly, proto-Eyehategod afterbirth of sludge and filth. If this EP is any indication of the band's potential, then Cough should be closely watched later this year when their new album is let loose upon all ye doomfarers.

By Chris Ayers

Check out the site here...

The album is being mastered and the artwork is being finalized. It is heavy and blasphemous. Thanks to everyone who helped or chilled, you all know who you are. This shit should drop soon so just keep an ear out for it.

COUGH

The new record has been written and will be recorded in Chicago by none other than Sanford Parker (Buried at Sea, Minsk).  We guarantee every riff you hear will be pure unadulterated DOOM!  Keep an eye out for it this winter on Forcefield Records.

COUGH - Kingdom EP

by I.M. Graham

This is what rock and fucking roll is supposed to be.  It's dark, mysterious, heavy, and full of smoke.  Full of thick riffs and brilliantly minimal drums, Cough displays a very well researched knowledge of the fundamentals of heavy music.  They walk the line between rock and metal, successfully, which is very hard to do, even with a massive stack of amps.  The distorted vocals will slend a slight chill down your spine, but it's OK, because they'll also take you on a magic drag race ride.  Four tracks of varying lengths bring the disc length to around 25 minutes of the purest rock and roll you've heard in years.