What Have I Become? Reflections on Cough’s “Possession”

~By Billy Goate~

Illustrations by Gustave Doré

For a summer, I have anguished over a review of Cough’s ‘Still They Pray’ (2016 - Relapse Records). The album so deeply affected me that I was at a loss for words and felt that anything I wrote would be pitifully inadequate and come across as obligatory. I secretly hoped that one of my team members would take up the cause, but perhaps they were as intimidated as I. As I’ve soaked in each of these eight tracks, one in particular resonated with me most: “Possession.” I decided to write down my thoughts, and a few words turned into an essay. I hope it is meaningful to you.

Behold, the tale of a human undergoing a frightening transformation. The title may tell you all you think you need to know: the graduation transformation of one who comes under the control of The Devil, leading to progressively heinous thoughts, words, and actions.

Traditions of malevolent beings (“unclean spirits” in the New Testament scriptures) taking control of the soul are to be found in practically every culture, branching off into tales of vampirism, spell-casting, and madness. We’ve seen this kind of transformation play out in films like ‘The Exorcist’ (1971), ‘The Devils’ (1971), and just about every flick by Mario Bava. You’d think interest in supernatural possession would wane over time, especially considering how effectively Kubrick tackled the subject in ‘The Shining’ (1980). Despite the overexposure of the topic (the past 15 years have in no wise slowed down the production of big screen tales of demon possession), we continue to be fascinated by the notion of something other than “us” getting behind the wheel and driving us straight off a cliff (as is literally played out in the obscure 1974 horror, “Beyond The Door”).

I don’t know if this is what David Cisco and Parker Chandler had in mind when they wrote “Possession,” the second track from the band’s latest album, 'Still We Pray’ (2016). If he has spoken explicitly about his inspiration for the song, I’m not sure I want to know about it. It’s better that way, because Cough has connected with me in such a way that their songs have taken on deep personal significance (I feel similarly towards the songwriting of Jerry Cantrell). For me, the ten-minute, twenty-four-second track could more plausibly be about the corrosive effects of hurt, bitterness, and despair, leading to a surrender of the will to our darker angel. Soon we are in a state of simmering spite, mutating into an altogether different person.

The same sentiment has been expressed throughout Cough’s oeuvre most powerfully, notably in songs like “Killing Fields” (“Torture, envy inside…there’s no reason to live”) and “Crippled Wizard” (“Living in pain/Crippled and broken/Cast down in shame/Drowning in misery/Eternal rain”), but the intensity of feeling at play in “Possession” gets to me every time I hear it in a way that no Cough song has previously. David Cisco’s sickly vocals spill words of utter resignation, as one grapples with the shifting nature of his personality, be it avarice, wrath, or any of the Seven Deadliest. Cough’s last record summoned The Devil (“Come down, Lucifer/now is the time/come down, Lucifer/destroy their minds”)…and now The Devil is here.

Scarcely can I can recall lyrics stated so effectively:

Devil’s breath in my lungs
Devil’s words on my tongue
What have I become?
What have I begun?

“Possession” plays to me as deep lament from a tortured soul. The burden of sorrow and helplessness overcomes me, as I slowly come to terms with the shocking reality that I am changing. There’s no returning to the person I was before. The stages of grief are stuck between sorrow and anger. Dante expressed it aptly in his 'Inferno’: “There is no greater sorrow than to recall happiness in times of misery.” Soon I will be forever bound to melancholy and consumed by burning acrimony. Worse still, we become perpetrators of pain, participating in the cycle of violent words and hostilities that others once brandished against us.

Now it’s done
What I have begun?
Now it’s done
What I have become?
Devil’s chosen one
Yeah…

Musically, the textures are as dense as an opaque midnight fog. The dank, downtuned riffs conjure a sinister atmosphere of darkness. It all starts with a few quiet bass notes, which effect a quiet whisper (not an easy subtlety to pull off when a band has this big a sound). David Cisco’s guitar-play is rock solid, but his singing really bears the heart of “Possession” in a manner that most singers simply couldn’t (or wouldn’t). He isn’t what we’d call a “refined” vocalist. In fact, his singing is positively jarring, and this absolutely works in his favor for this song (and elsewhere on 'Still They Pray’). We don’t want the Olympian heights of a Paul Di'Anno, the grandiosity of a Messiah Marcolin, or the grimy depths of a Randy Blythe. They’re perfect for their respective bands, but they could never do Cough.

No, “Possession” resonates because it is fronted by an everyman, who brings a kind of jaded punk aesthetic to his singing, just slowed way the fuck down. It works. It’s believable. More importantly, it’s something I can personally identify with. It didn’t surprise me to learn that the song was also one of the most intimate numbers on the record for the band, as well.

I am remiss if I didn’t mention Parker Chandler’s contribution to the piece, who opens the song’s verses and carries the fury in the “Devil’s Breath” chorus (and I suspect that gripping mid-song shriek, as well) that makes the song thoroughly believable. All of the members of the band, from David and Brandon on guitars to Joseph and Parker in the rhythm section, have put heart and soul into not only this song, but the entirety of the record.

Jus Oborn came close to this sentiment with “We Hate You,” one of the darkest songs in all of the doom oeuvre. Wino and Mike IX have effectively conveyed the psyche of the outcast, condemned and gradually embracing his fate. Yet rarely have we had this clear a window into the vitriolic thoughts of the broken and beaten. We’re far from the rebel cry of adolescence, immortalized by Twisted Sister. Now we’re plunged into the disillusionment of adulthood. We have won our independence, only to realize we are alone in this dog-eat-dog existence. It’s a world in which people fail us and we fail others. We lose the ones we love. The totality of it all punches the wind right out of the gut and we writhe in torment. This is depicted so well by the album’s cover.

One might argue that such a diet of raw emotion and hopelessness is not healthy. I take a divergent stance. “Possession” and other songs of this nature are wholly cathartic. As such, they offer a tremendous service to the soul. I have sorted through grievous disappointment, anger at injustice, and seething hate, giving way to a wellspring of tears while journeying through the tragedy of this, the year’s most compelling album.