Coffins
March of Despair
Hammerheart
Japan’s death/doom metallers Coffins have been around the block for a fair old while now and aside from a couple of line-up changes, their latest EP ‘March of Despair‘ is largely more of the same elephantine sluggery as they’ve pedalled for most of their career. If you’re not familiar with them, what you can expect is a blend of the best bits of Celtic Frost, Winter, Hellhammer, etc. -.basically, if you like your old school thrills, you’ll probably love Coffins.
For the initiated of course, there’s nothing greatly spectacular about this release, but it does tick all the right boxes, with new vocalist (and former drummer) Ryo getting in some Tom G. Warrior-inspired ‘ugh!‘s in at the beginning of a couple of the tracks. ‘Till Dawn of the Dooms Day’ and ‘Grotesque Messiah’ are both riff-heavy, with thick motoring grooves that’ll bring about the urge to hold your finest proverbial oranges in the sky if you’re in the mood. The doomier elements of their sound take hold on the later tracks, blending in nicely as ever with the deathier elements, before an obligatory cover, this time Death’s ‘Corpsegrinder’ rounds off proceedings in reliable fashion – although said cover isn’t a patch on the original.
Still, better now than ever to get into Coffins, who remain true to the adage of not fixing what isn’t broken. This is solid stuff and new and old fans should enjoy this, despite lacking any surprise.
Peter Clegg
Coffins – Till Dawn of the Dooms Day
