Album Review: Coffin Rot - Dreams Of The Disturbed
Reviewed by Sam Jones
Coffin Rot are perhaps one of the biggest and newest names to explode into death metal for some time, and when I saw the band would finally release their follow-up album to their acclaimed 2019 full length, I was thoroughly on board. Formed in 2017 out of Oregon, United States, it didn’t take long for the band to make themselves known. Releasing their first Demo the same year, it was shortly followed by their second and a Split alongside Molder a year later. 2019 would be their biggest year though, unveiling not only a Compilation and another Demo but the release of their first full length work: A Monument To The Dead. This was a huge album when it released and I remember strongly the impact it made amongst the metal community. Following this release, Coffin Rot would release a Live Album and a Split in 2020, whilst a Single and another Compilation would grace us the year later. But three years on and now signed on to Maggot Stomp, Coffin Rot are back at last with their second full length record, Dreams Of The Disturbed, one that has been long in the making. Reckoned for a September 20th release date, Coffin Rot sport a new guitarist, Jonathan Quintana, whose prowess has been proven throughout his time in Ritual Necromancy and Ascended Dead’s live shows; otherwise this is the same band that released A Monument To The Dead. I was more than ready to dive back into Coffin Rot’s putrid vistas.
Talk about a production that’s square in your face. Coffin Rot forgo any concept of personal space as they thrust their songwriting and performance so close to your face, the tip of your nose may as well be touching their guitar’s headstocks or the cymbal edges. Since they’ve thrown themselves so close to you, it makes for a strangling, imposing soundscape that you cannot turn away from. It renders every turn of the riffs importance that you feel needs to be experienced owing to what the band may throw your way next. With that said though, the tone isn’t so suffocating that you can’t breathe at the same time; this isn’t a totally cacophonous work of death metal and Coffin Rot do benefit from that. What’s more the production is surprisingly clean for a work of ruthlessly played death metal; we’re given a nicely polished work of extreme metal which, due to the band’s imposing placement in the mix, results in every riff and solo and drum strike feeling not merely audible but hammering away with every single impact they make.
But the record wouldn’t feel as strongly in your face had the bass not been as prominent. It’d all well and good to say the record has been mixed in such a way that you can’t escape, but the mixing process can only do so much. This is where their bass comes in whether it be the bass guitar, the bass throughout the mix or the actual bass drums themselves. Curiously, Dreams Of The Disturbed doesn’t let its individual bass guitar shine on its own all too often however it’s abundantly clear that bass possesses great importance throughout each track, and it’s imperative standing amongst the band comes to the limelight when the band’s pace slows down or when they undergo more freeform guitar playing that bridges to the next sequence. Yet it’s the bass drums that provide the most blatant injections of strength for, when they’re fully utilised, you’ll find your eyes opening in a very short span of time. When blast beats are incorporated too, you’ll feel your eyes ringing all round as the band do their best to sonically murder you. Though the band are renowned for playing with speed, they’ve ensured their impact never feels quelled as their tempo climbs.
This has to be one of the deepest and most guttural vocal performances in death metal I’ve heard in some time. You’ll naturally have our own expectations of what Coffin Rot should bring here, but their frontman’s capability to utter these sustained low notes is really something you need to hear to believe. Throughout the record we learn quickly that the vocals are a pretty strong point of the band’s presence, no doubt aided by the record’s production and mixing work too, but they really do grab you by the throat and then do not let go. But it’s one thing to release guttural vocals and strike your audience, but it’s wildly another to release such a disciplined and controlled utterance that you bask your audience in an atmosphere of its own. Vocals the likes of what are found within don’t come round often, and whilst they’re not anything new in extreme metal, they’re clearly honed over great time, especially when they can rise suddenly with a keen savagery too, without venturing into more high-pitched vocal territory.
Considering what we know of Coffin Rot, I feel like this record really helps cement the band’s plethora of songwriting that takes tempo variety into account. Whilst we’ve covered the band’s adoration for playing fast and their ability to forever keep your engagement and curiosity piqued, it’s amazing how adept they are at playing with slower or steadier rates. Though no single track herein is solely composed of a singular tempo, the way they’re able to dart back and forth is great and organic because it never feels unnecessarily forced upon the songwriting or is. They’re always able to keep our attention fixed all the while maintaining a flow of songwriting that’s continuously alternating tempo, even as the tone doesn’t waver either. That capacity to keep throwing us one change in tempo after another whilst maintaining organic songwriting is no small feat and you know you’ll only continue to receive such a thing, because of how much the record has already demonstrated as such. Each track is meticulously written to ensure there are numerous pieces that make them memorable, and therefore I’m surprised it took five years to follow up their first album. Dreams Of The Disturbed is the band’s finest work yet.
In conclusion, Coffin Rot’s latest album is a real triumph for the band. Whilst A Monument To The Dead was a huge hit for the band, I can’t help but think this is the record that’s really going to out the band on the pedestal they’re so deserving of. It doesn’t run on for all too long but in its runtime it manages to absolutely sweep away any anxieties or worries you might have had owing to the gap between albums. It’s a completely storming assault as the band hold nothing back and there’s nought you can do to hope for in the way of mercy. It manages to be equally bludgeoning whilst at the same time pristinely clean so there isn’t any way that their impact is at risk of losing its power since all possible obstacles between us and the band have been removed within the mix. As a result the band are in your faces at every moment but there’s still just enough room in the middle that you can breathe without difficulty, and even the more nuanced, less obvious works of songwriting are given their due as the band relentlessly pursue you from start to finish. Dreams Of The Disturbed is a blinding record that is absolutely deserving of your time and I’m thrilled to see them signed on to Maggot Stomp. Here’s hoping more records under them are on the horizon.
