ALBUM REVIEW: Coffin Curse – Ceased To Be

After a few EP’s, splits and demos, COFFIN CURSE have their debut full length record to offer. Out today via Memento Mori Records, the time for some crushing old school Death Metal is now.

Sickening guitars and drums pound in a meaty and violent mid-tempo crawl of purely delightful grooves with macabre vocals quickly dropping us into tremolo riffs and upbeat blastbeats for a ferociously raw assault. The convulsions of the music are tightly wound to conjure up the type of Death Metal you feel through your whole band and the songwriting is certainly fantastic enough to keep up to this riveting style of extremity. Riffing with forceful hatred and chaotic yet precise drums deliver an impactful and percussive blend of decimating aggression, matched by the maniacal and diverse range of snarls and growls from the vocalist. Production wise this record is akin to early Deicide which is certainly a positive comparison for such a savagely hard-hitting sound. A rotten range in slower tempo dungeon-dwelling atmospherics and blasting adrenaline surges keep you on your toes and make sure the full record remains unpredictable and marvellously varied while definitely keeping that familiar early 90s feeling intact. Guitar solos are used infrequently to rain melody and tasteful shred-work over the rhythmic concussive brutishness, certainly adding something to balance this blundering grind of offal and definitely bringing out the best in both sides of the band. We are occasionally given the subtle hint of Death-Doom which adds some morbid ambience to the record while the frenzied ferocity of blastbeats and grinding riffs is never too far away. As if in perfect contrast to the aforementioned doomy sections, there are also some magnificent Possessed style thrashy parts which further the monolithically fierce drive of the record into new territories. The sound is massive and with a killer set of eight tracks, this is all killer no filler Death Metal ripped right from the heart of the genres origins, truly some brilliant material that I think all fans of classic Death Metal will certainly love. -8/10