June 6, 2008 | | 4

Coffins, Buried Death

What do you get when you combine stoner influenced leads with crushing and suffocating riffs of raw doom? You get three dudes from Japan cranking out caustic, sludgy metal. Coffins’ latest effort Buried Death is chock full of low end bass and drums coalesced with psychodelic guitar work and thick doomy riffs.

There are moments on this disc when the listen feels mired deep in toxic slime while a crusty dude slowly and methodically clubs them with a rusty pipe. It’s these moments that I feel Coffins are at their best — slow, churning riffs and heavy handed drums. The group doesn’t stop there, however, and continually lob heavily weighted stoner leads into the fray.

Under The Stench
The album starts off with “Under The Stench,” a thick slab of sludgy death metal that begins at a snails pace with huge, doomy riffs and methodical drum work. There’s a great texture over the entire album that starts with this opening track. The vocals are guttural and raw. I love the guitar work at the four minute mark, as well as the lead that ends the track.

Buried Death
Crusty bass and thick guitars join pummeling drums to start off the second track. This one is more up-tempo than the opener and has a decidedly death metal feel to it. There’s still plenty of sludge and grime, but the increased pace makes for one hell of a song. The tempo shift about halfway through is a nice change, as Coffins slows it down a bit. There’s a sick lead at the 2:50 mark that can’t be missed.

Cadaver Blood
A slow, methodical series of riffs opens up “Cadaver Blood” while funeral dirge paced drums hit like a ton of bricks. The band settles into a nicely paced bit of sludgy doom just before the two minute point with mid-tempo drums and gnarly vocals. Layered screams add another element to the already busy sound of this one. The pace is stepped up another notch at the three minute mark as evil riffs come in.

Altars In Gore
“Alters In Gore” starts out with some beefy and memorable riffing as a nice rhythm comes in. This one will have you head banging along in record time with infectious beats and guitar work. The lead just before 3:20 is pretty slick. This is the catchiest track on the album.

Mortification To Ruin
Lots of guitar squeals and thick riffing accompany powerful hammers to the drum kit as “Mortification To Ruin” begins it’s sludgy march through your speakers. This one will leave you in ruin after the doomy beating you’ll be taking through it’s duration.

Deadly Sinners
“Deadly Sinners” is quicker paced with thick bass work and bruising rhythms. It’s got more of a death metal feel as well, that’s a nice change up from the heavily doom and stoner inspired work of some of the other tracks. The duel vocal delivery is a nice change of pace as well and gives the track little more life. Some reverb leads into some nice guitar work just before the two minute mark. The song ends with a super slow pace and massively crushing riffs.

Purgatorial Madness
I like the somewhat chaotic opening to this next one as Coffins settles into a mid-tempo rhythm with the introduction of the guttural growls. The tempo change and subsequent riffs around the three minute mark are addictive as hell as a discordant lead comes in shortly after.

The Frozen Styx
Stoner influenced guitar noise and steady beat from the drums starts off the final track. “The Frozen Styx” settles into a catchy series of riffs as the opening beat continues unabated. As a growl comes in the pace slows a bit with crushing and suffocating doomy riffs.

~ ~ ~

There’s something infectious about Buried Death. Could it be the thick, stoner rhythms? Or the crushing riffs? Who the hell knows, but I like it — a lot. Coffins have brought in a little more death metal influence into the mix, giving the album plenty of appeal across metal genres.

Favorite Tracks:
All of them

Additional Notes:
N/A