Cobalt (band)

Lore & Background

Cobalt began as a solo project of Phil McSorley under the name Grimness Enshroud, which released one demo. Childhood friend Erik Wunder then joined and the name was changed to Cobalt in 2002. Wunder drummed and performed all guitars and bass on studio albums, and performed drums live. McSorley provided vocals until 2015, when he split with the band due to personal differences. McSorley was replaced by Chicago's Charlie Fell, who is the current front man and vocalist. Wunder and Fell met during the Jarboe/Nachtmystium European tour in 2010. Fell formerly played bass and vocals in black sludge metal band Lord Mantis.

Reader's Guide

Cobalt's significance lies in their evolution from raw, primitive black metal on their debut War Metal to a more expansive, forward-thinking sound on albums like Eater of Birds and Gin. Gin was voted the second best album of 2009 by Terrorizer and was described as expanding the possibilities of black metal both musically and thematically. The band's later work, Slow Forever, was released as a double album in 2016 after a period of lineup instability. Cobalt's legacy includes their influence on US black metal and their incorporation of diverse influences such as Neurosis and Swans, with Jarboe making guest appearances on their last two albums.

Did You Know?

• The name Cobalt was chosen because, in the words of Erik Wunder, 'we wanted a name that didn't entail anything. Something basic. Something elemental.'
• Phil McSorley served tours of duty with the U.S. army in Iraq and South Korea.
• Erik Wunder also fronted folk band Man's Gin and played in experimental singer Jarboe's band.
• The album Gin was largely inspired by literary figures Ernest Hemingway and Hunter Thompson.

Origins & The Duo Dynamic

Cobalt traces its roots to a solo endeavor called Grimness Enshroud, the brainchild of Phil McSorley, who put out a single demo before inviting childhood friend Erik Wunder into the fold. By 2002 the project had been rebaptized Cobalt—a deliberately elemental, unpretentious name that, in Wunder's own framing, left the door open for any musical direction the pair might pursue. The division of labor was striking: Wunder handled drums, all guitar parts, and bass on every studio recording, while also manning the drum kit on live shows. McSorley carried the vocal duties. This lean, two-person structure gave Cobalt a distinctive intensity and made the duo's chemistry the engine of the entire project. Beyond the band, both members maintained parallel lives—McSorley served tours of duty with the U.S. Army in Iraq and South Korea, while Wunder fronted the folk outfit Man's Gin and played in the band of experimental vocalist Jarboe.

Musical Evolution Across Key Albums

The band's discography charts a clear arc from raw aggression toward expansive, genre-blending ambition. War Metal (2005) leaned heavily into primitive, blast-heavy black metal, though it already carried faint traces of where Cobalt would eventually head. Eater of Birds (2007) marked what critics called a major evolutionary leap: a seventy-minute expanse of war metal built on heavy thrash riffs, slow-building crescendoes, and ritualistic interludes, drawing inspiration not only from early-'90s black metal but also from post-metal acts like Neurosis and Swans. Jarboe of Swans even made guest appearances on the band's final two records. Gin (2009) pushed further into literary territory, drawing thematic material from Ernest Hemingway and Hunter Thompson, and earned a spot as the second-best album of 2009 in Terrorizer magazine. Slow Forever (2016), released as a double album through Profound Lore, represented the culmination of this trajectory with a new vocalist at the helm.

Turbulence, Departures, and New Voices

Cobalt's history is punctuated by repeated personnel upheavals, most notably the fraught relationship between McSorley and Wunder. In March 2014 McSorley announced his departure through the band's Facebook page, though a month later he confirmed the two had reconciled and would continue working on Slow Forever together. By December 2014, Wunder posted that McSorley was once again out, citing personal differences and viewpoints incompatible with the band's direction. In June 2015, with recording sessions underway, Cobalt revealed that Charlie Fell—formerly of the black sludge metal band Lord Mantis—would step in as the new frontman. Wunder and Fell had first crossed paths during a 2010 European tour with Jarboe and Nachtmystium. Fell's arrival brought a fresh vocal identity to the project, and the resulting double album, Slow Forever, landed in March 2016 via Profound Lore Records.

Legacy, Scarcity, and a Final Chapter

Cobalt carved out a devoted following through relentless touring across the United States and Europe, with notable stops at Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, Netherlands, and Maryland Deathfest. Both War Metal and Eater of Birds spent years out of print, during which they became sought-after collector items fetching premium prices on resale platforms like eBay; Profound Lore eventually reissued Eater of Birds in April 2013, easing that scarcity. The band's influence on the American black metal scene is often cited, with Gin in particular praised for expanding the genre's musical and thematic boundaries. The project's story reached its most somber chapter on July 31, 2025, when Erik Wunder died of heart failure at the age of 42. His passing ended the creative partnership that had defined Cobalt since 2002 and left the band's future uncertain, closing a chapter that had spanned more than two decades of relentless, boundary-pushing metal.

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