Coffins' "Buried Death"

The Japanese band, Coffins, have been honing a death/doom metal style, having released a slew of demos and appearances on split works since the 2000s. In 2005, Mortuary in Darkness  hit ears and was followed by The Other Side of Blasphemy in 2006. The Fleshlands is expected to be released next month.

Coffins' Buried Death was released in 2008 and offers old school techniques with a modern edge. 

Courtesy of spirit-of-metal.com

"Under the Stench" is heavily founded on a groove, which is propelled by double bass drumming. Low growls permeate the piece, and a surprising blues undertone of a solo makes a fleeting appearance. 

"Buried Death" is kick-started with an upbeat rhythm, while muffled growling peeks in the verses; instrumentation is rather fussy, stirring heavy fuzzy tones. "Cadaver Blood" can instantaneously be branded as a contrast, as its sludgy progression is formulated; listeners may be fooled by the whiff of doom elements while the song eventually gains an average speed. 

A perky "Altars in Gore" follows and has a fresh outlook headed by blatant drumming. Vocals surface in a chant-style beat. 

Buried Death was released in 2008. Courtesy of nuclearblast.de.

Similar to the pace of "Cadaver Blood," "Mortification to Ruin" indulges in a doom behavior, but  refuses to offer any other nuances. "Deadly Sinners" proceeds and is not bashful about imposing a few lighter growls on listeners; though, the track is not neglectful of deep gushes of instrumentation. 

"Purgatorial Madness" seems to grant liberation to the drumming, since it spits out fills and breaks in certain crannies. "The Frozen Styx" finishes the album with a healthy smash of doom with some traces of the groovy death metal they fostered throughout the entire album. 

From the technical angle, Buried Death channels a consistent temperature within its artistry. This is mainly achieved with a contemporary-sounding production, which is masked with an old school flavor of death metal. 

Buried Death can be celebrated and enjoyed for its ability to package distinctive tracks to which one can return. Those in search of a balance of doom and death will find themselves welcome. It does not grant any nodding of sleepy heads with the sluggish element of some doom, and instead, relishes in the might, diversity and stench of aged death metal.