Review / 200 Words Or Less
Coffins / XXX Maniak
The Cracks of Doom

Creeping Vine (2008) Scottie

Coffins / XXX Maniak – The Cracks of Doom cover artwork
Coffins / XXX Maniak – The Cracks of Doom — Creeping Vine, 2008

To offend me takes special talent, talent that knows no boundaries to how far the one can push idea of indecency. People who believe there is nothing sacred, no subject matter too taboo that they cannot molest it. These people play in the XXX Maniak. The cover art alone on this made me ashamed to have the CD in my house, but then hearing XXX Maniak's songs brought me shame to think it could be promising. Sexist porno/gore grind that makes AC look like a Tooth and Nail act. They'll certainly never play ABC No Rio. Napalm Death shakes their collective heads.

Coffins, who drew my attention to disc, offer little to nothing new on The Cracks of Doom. By little, I mean the title track, "Cracks of Doom," which only a completest would long for, treading the same path of most of their other releases. Slow, heavy, sludgy by way of dirty distortion: we've heard it before, but better. By nothing new, I mean a cover of Cathedral's "Ebony Tears." Not straying too far from the original, the track only serves to show new listeners where Coffins got their influences.

Waste of money, and waste of time, period.

4.0 / 10Scottie • February 25, 2009

Coffins / XXX Maniak – The Cracks of Doom cover artwork
Coffins / XXX Maniak – The Cracks of Doom — Creeping Vine, 2008

Recently-posted album reviews

Tigers Jaw

Lost on You
Hopeless (2026)

Tigers Jaw was formed in 2005 in Scranton, PA by high school friends. After a brief hiatus in 2013, the band is once again carefully crafting and delivering a sound that is equal parts upbeat angst and mellow moodiness. The current lineup, consisting of Ben Walsh (guitar, vocals), Brianna Collins (keys, vocals), Mark Lebiecki (guitar), Colin Gorman (bass), and Teddy … Read more

N.E. Vains

Running Down Pylons
Big Neck Records (2025)

N.E. Vains’ Running Down Pylons delivers that kind of glorious, basement-level destruction. You know, back in the ’70s when every basement had those flimsy swinging room-dividing doors, and your skinny 130-pound frame suddenly ripped them clean off the hinges in a fit of imagined superhuman strength? The day you went from sand-kicked weakling to full Charles Atlas mail-order muscle miracle? … Read more

Poison The Well

Peace In Place
Sharptone (2026)

There’s no way to talk about Peace In Place without acknowledging the shadow it steps out from. Poison the Well isn’t just another reunited band dusting off an old name. They’re literally architects of the genre. The Opposite of December… A Season of Separation didn’t just help define metalcore, it rewired how heaviness and vulnerability could coexist. And honestly, is … Read more