Relapse Records, one of the most respected labels in music posted an announcement earlier today for a partial release plan for 2017. Dying Fetus, Obituary, Iron Reagan, Primitive Man, Myrkur, King Woman, Pig Destroyer, Ilsa are among the notable bands with new music on the way. Continue reading
My back was to the wall, and I felt a little wavy headed from booze and music. Sweaty under my hoodie from pregamming at the house, but the club was drafty. My eyes were rolled back under my sleepy lids, as waves of sound punched my eardrums inside out. My head nodded to the beat of every riff. Sometimes those glorious razors of sound came faster, but most of them were steady as breathing to me. Over the din, one solitary voice in pain, disgust, and sometimes joy filled entire room with so much heart, if left the crowed positively entranced. Continue reading
You can file Coffins and Ilsa’s Split EP (Relapse Records) under heaviest thing you’ll jam out to for a while. No time to waste here with pretentious orchestral arrangements or cliché samples; Coffins and Ilsa immediately start their brutal eardrum massage with relentless riffs and grooves.
Case in point? You only get roughly 12 minutes of music on this EP. Maximum effort and distortion crammed into two songs.
Japan’s Coffins gets first crack at it with ‘Tyrant’ and they somehow make it sound more demonic than on last year’s Craving to Eternal Slumber. The guitar tone remains Coffins gnarly, but the production has dialed up the grit and smoke inhalation. Jun Tokita’s grunts sound like the product of a lifelong sand and gravel diet and are perfectly paired to Uchino’s skilsaw on asphalt guitar tone.
Tempo-wise, Ilsa aren’t as jackhammer intense as Coffins, but they certainly bring the decibels on ‘Cult of the Throne.’ But what they lack in speed, they make up for with an even grimier atmosphere and steady double bass stomp. Orion Peter’s pained howling and the crawling breakdown at around the 4:15 mark conjure up images of prime Eyehategod.
You may not get much in the way of running time, but Coffins and Ilsa satisfy if heaviness is what you crave. Can we get a tour now?
8.0/10
HANSEL LOPEZ
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Tokyo death doom metallers Coffins have confirmed a string of upcoming US dates with Noothgrush. They will be releasing an upcoming, yet to be titled split with Ilsa, coming out in 2016 via Relapse Records. The split is currently being mastered by Brad Boatright (Sleep, Noothgrush) and features artwork by Joshy of Ilsa.
COFFINS 2016 U.S. Tour Dates:
Feb 15: Saint Vitus Bar – Brooklyn, NY (No Noothgrush)
Feb 16: Complex – Los Angeles, CA
Feb 17: Catalyst Atrium – Santa Cruz, CA
Feb 18: Oakland Metro – Oakland, CA
Feb 19: Starlight Lounge – Sacramento, CA
Feb 20: Famine Fest – Portland, OR
Feb 21: Highline – Seattle, WA
Going on 20 years as the colossus of Japan’s extreme metal underground, Tokyo’s Coffins has shown no signs of slowing down. Boasting 4 weighty full lengths and no dearth of EPs and splits, this latest offering from Tartarus, entitled Craving To Eternal Slumber (Hammerheart America), is what we kindly refer to in the biz as “more of the same”. This is no fault however, as their œuvre has suffered from no shortage of death/doom cannonading that borrows from the crush of DM veterans Incantation, sludge impresarios Buzzov*en, and the rolling punk inflected gallop of Ilsa. I could go on, but to over-complicate Coffins’ mephitic, yet basic stew is to ovsrstuff the cauldron.
Being a short and sweet handful of songs, and the second major release featuring the new line-up, opening track ‘Hatred Storm’ charging in like a loose, and rather ticked off pachyderm. Alternating between Swedeath romps and grooving headbang sections, complete with a sweet solo by axe-cutioner and former frontman Bungo, the dynamics are set in place for the rest of the effort. The production, in following with previous LP The Fleshland, is considerably less thick and wet than it was in times past, but their sound is no less suffocating, as evidenced by the title track’s menacing, swampy lurch.
While the EP does hold up to multiple listens (I may be on my 10th now), its strengths lie primarily in the tracks that sound a bit more, for lack of better word, ” written “. The title track, despite its initial plod, picks up your attention with a sample of a man being tortured, adding a whole new dimension to this exploration of misery. Opener ‘Hatred Storm’, with its initial kick to the teeth, and the grand neckbreaker that is closer ‘Decapitated Crawl’ also hold the primary meat of interest, not to say the other tracks are at all gristle. A delectably rotten teaser, as Coffins is nothing if not infinitely industrious with their (a)musical output, and will continue sculpting new visions of horror for what I hope is another 20 years. At least.
7.5/10
SEAN PIERRE-ANTOINE