ALBUM REVIEW: Coffin Rot – A Monument To The Dead

The debut album of Death Metallers COFFIN ROT is here, promising gruesomely savage brutality, let us see what lies within. Out via Blood Harvest and Rotted Life Records on October 18th.

Setting in with brooding horror ambience, the filthy stench of the album ahead is clear already from the introduction. Grisly riffs soon jump in with a doomy cascade over crashing cymbals, building tension with a foreboding sense of atmosphere rather than giving everything at once, the band grows the sound with thrashing riffs and a crisp d-beat assault. There is an epic punky swing to the churning Death Metal barrages to give it a bit of attitude while keeping the hammering drums consistent. The band have glorious solos opting for a more melodic take than their sewer-dwelling counterparts who often prefer simple whammy attacks. With a grinding savagery that is balanced beautifully by slow-tempo grooves, there is no lack of diversity, mixing a smorgasbord of meaty Death Metal delights from the various old school styles, playing with a ferociously confident sense of melody and butchering heaviness. Churning out richly groovy and menacing riffs, well-ranged drums and guttural snarls seems to come naturally with a really fantastic selection of tracks from the band that work together to make a brilliant slice of gnarly Death Metal with fierce tempo changes, catchy hooks and an awesome stomping feel that re-appears throughout. There is only one thing about this album that bothers me which is that the production in certain parts feels a bit too clean-cut, which can dry out the otherwise putrid ambience of the record, primarily during the transition between riffs. It does still retain most of the albums filth and also clarity, so it is by no means a bad production at all, just one that could keep a bit more of the swampy edge on the music would be an improvement. With that being said, this is a crushing debut record with a magnificent array of decimating, intense barrages and crawling sewer-dwelling grooves. There is also a consistent sense of musical proficiency with a tight performance from the whole band who deliver seemingly endless blows of devastating brutality in such a short time (just over 30 minutes). There is a huge amount of potential for the band to grow from, while this release demands respect in its own right, deservedly so. Wonderful stuff. -8/10