BAND OF THE WEEK: COUGH

Should there be any doubt in your mind on whether or not the band Cough are battling mental illness, let “Mind Collapse,” the opening song of their new album (a pick-you-upper entitled “Ritual Abuse”), remove all doubt.

The good news is they seem in control of the battle.

Hear me out: The recent book by Mark Vonnegut, M.D. – son of Kurt, pediatrician, author of “Eden Express: A Memoir of Insanity,” and mental institution veteran – is entitled “Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So: A Memoir.” That might as well be the title of the new Cough album.

I’ve got it, but I’ve not yet read “… Only More So.” The elder Vonnegut being number one on my hit parade for years, I’ll need to ease in to this one.

Likewise, Cough is a band that have impressed for several years now. Being in the right place at the right time put the double-platter, gatefold vinyl in my possession … but you could not ease into “Ritual Abuse” if you tried (I did not try). Rather, you must jump right in to the massive, towering pile of trance-inducing riff-salad they serve, complimented by the punishing rhythms, out of control fuzz and feedback, screams of torment, and the unbelievable sonic power that comes from smelling like Tony Iommi’s mustache. It’s dark, dark stuff – raw meat for wolves, psychedelic in its perfection.

“Buy the ticket, take the ride,” said the Hunter, no stranger to mental illness himself. Buy the new Cough album and remember: it’s just a ride. Mark Vonnegut – hospitalized three times in the grips of schizophrenia – is today a medical doctor. Cough have earned their doctorate in suffering – long may they ride.

Download: COUGH – “A Year of Suffering” (the heaviest 12 minutes and 9 seconds of your year … of your life?)

Ride, ride, ride ... we're hitchin' a ride!