Review
Coffins
The Fleshland

Since the release of their debut album, Mortuary in Darkness which came out in 2005, Coffins started building a cult aura around them. This was further developed with the release of their next two full-length albums, The Other Side of Blasphemy (2006) and Buried Death (2008), while on the same time their split releases, with great acts such as Otesanek, The Arm and Sword of a Bastard God, Stormcrow, Hooded Menace and Sourvein among more, aided them in keeping the attention of doom/death fans towards them.

Now, about five years after Buried Death came out, Coffins signed a deal with Relapse Records and are releasing their latest record entitled The Fleshland. Not many surprises are found within the album, the band retains its heavy, dirty sound with their Autopsy, Winter, Celtic Frost (up to To Mega Therion) and Asphyx influences still at play to release an old school doom/death album. The interesting thing about Coffins is that even though the structures of their songs are obviously found in the doom/death subgenre, the feeling that the album transmits is also that of an underlying punk vibe.

The opening track of the album, "Here Comes Perdition," comes in after an interesting intro, and instantly starts unleashing the slow death of The Fleshlands. The sickening riffs are brought forth fitting in perfectly with the slow tempo before Coffins start to build up the pace. Soon enough “Hellbringer” evoking some of the punk influences of the band into form, obviously along with the sludge guitars, the death metal vocals and the apparent doom sound of the track.

“The Colossal Hole” soon comes in to destroy any glimpse of hope. The slow progression of the track and its gigantic sound are imposing to say the least, with the guitars going absolutely insane over the gradual development of the song, with dives dropping in and out to make things more paranoid. Of similar energy are the last four minutes of ‘The Unhallowed Tide,” while the beginning of the track has a more Celtic Frost vibe to it. 

Of course their best side is when they get seriously aggressive, unleashing tracks such as “No Saviour,” with the hardcore/sludge part of the band in control, while in some other instances they let an almost thrashy element to come out, as is for instance the case with the start of “Dishuman,” one of the most energetic tracks of the album, it even includes some blastbeats about 1.20 in and near the end of the song. But their absolute most furious moment of the album has to be “Rotten Principles,” with Coffins unleashing some addictive riffs and a towering rhythm section set to bring down the walls surrounding you. Finally, “The Vacant Pale Vessel” with its great solo about four three and a half minutes in and “Tormentopia” with its sickening groove further explore the ability of the band to create immense doom/death songs.

Slow riffs, deep vocals, heavy as fuck guitars, doom/death structure and a punkish attitude in places. The Fleshland is exactly what you would expect from a Coffins album.