ALBUM REVIEW: Beyond The Circular Demise – Coffins

Although the level of consistency across their material has been never been in question, and with a career spanning over two decades, COFFINS haven’t exactly been prolific in releasing studio albums. Whilst quality over quantity is always the best course of action, it does mean that the wait between albums is absolutely agonising. Six years have passed since the Japanese outfit’s last outing, The Fleshland, and finally, album number five, Beyond The Circular Demise, is here.

Six years is a long gap between releases, but Beyond The Circular Demise picks up right from where The Fleshland left off as Terminate By Own Prophecy‘s explosive opening salvo of doom-driven riffing and guttural snarls from vocalist Tokita set an immediate and frantic precedent. The slowing of tempo at the track’s mid-way point works a treat as the band’s mirky edge surfaces, making the riffs hit all the more harder. COFFINS are back and they are out for blood.

From there, Beyond The Circular Demise continues to demonstrate COFFINS‘ trademark cocktail of death meets doom to wonderful effect. The Tranquil End leans more towards the doom side of the band’s musical repertoire as the sinister and spacious passages, particular in the guitar department, allow moments of respite to the musical pummelling, whilst Forgotten Cemetery flips this on its head through a high-octane affair of blistering riffing and thunderous drumming.

With a vast amount of experience on their side, Beyond The Circular Demise demonstrates a band who know how to play to their strengths and this is reflected in the pacing of the record. Across its eight tracks, the band’s clever use of pace to switch dynamically from doom-driven passages to moments of sheer aural heaviness is simply remarkable. Take Impuritious Minds for example. Clocking in at just shy of seven minutes, the balance of rapid fire ferocity with a crushing mid-tempo chug is executed so well, it makes for one of the highlight songs on the entire record. Similarly, Birth Postmortem‘s slick guitar grooves play off remarkably to Tokita‘s vicious vocal snarls whilst Insane‘s all-out death metal assault, although slightly one-dimensional, injects some much needed adrenaline in the album’s second half.

In fact, it is this wonderful pacing that acts as the proverbial glue that keeps this album packaged nicely together. The musicianship of the band is absolutely crushing, with every riff and guttural snarl packing a mighty punch, and though it benefits from an excellent production job, nothing feels too polished here. This is an album plucked straight from death metal’s mirky depths and at a time where death metal is continuously experimenting with new directions, a record seeping in old school approach and attitude is a welcome embrace indeed.

In a year where death metal has knocked the ball out of the park, to stand firm with the genre’s trailblazers, you better have something special up your sleeve. By refusing to sail into uncharted waters or divert from the beaten path, some may argue whether Beyond The Circular Demise can stand its ground against competition which are taking the style to truly exciting places. However, COFFINS have never been a band to experiment with their core DNA, rather they thrive on honing and fine-tuning their killer brand of death doom. With that said, this is a solid new outing from COFFINS and if you are already initiated into the world of death metal, then there is no doubting you will get an absolute thrill from Beyond The Circular Demise.

Rating: 8/10

Beyond The Circular Demise is out now via Relapse Records.

Like COFFINS on Facebook.