Cortez – Initial (10th Anniversary Reissue)

Today only the two of the original trio that created Intial remain, however Cortez remain active as a musical trio, with Samuel Vaney acting a silent fourth member who contributes as a composer and studio engineer. To commemorate the release of Cortez‘s first album, Initial, a decade ago Wooaargh and Get A Life Records have co-released the tenth anniversary reissue of the debut album by the Swiss hardcore legends. This isn’t just a shameless anniversary cash in, the reissue of this landmark album has been completely remixed and remastered at the Autoclave Studio in Singapore.

Cortez were formed in Switzerland in 2001 as a trio that was uniquely comprised of drums, guitar and vocals. This is about as extreme an album as I’ve heard, it is a brutal and relentless album that encompasses the worlds of hardcore, post hardcore and there’s even a bit of extreme metal in it’s DNA. This is not an easy listen of an album, everything about this album is intense, from the opening seventeen second salvo of Prompt to the closing epic track, Patriarche. This is not just an album of the short sharp shocks that are frequently associated with hardcore, this is an experimental beast of an album that enbraces numerous genre’s and influences, this stops Initial becoming another repetitive assault on the your senses.

This is from the dark end of hardcore, I imagine that this will appeal to fans of the hardcore movement of the 1980’s, and to those who like their noise rock to be unpredictable and experimental, Initial would also be worthy of investigation if you’re a fan of the darker and heavier end of the punk spectrum. The production on the album reflects the stormy intensity, yet somehow the mix also manages to be clean and perfectly balanced, whilst this isn’t something that appeals to me you can’t help but be impressed by the intensity and brutality of this album.