ALBUM REVIEW: Spectral Intercession – Coffin Mulch
Scotland’s COFFIN MULCH may only have been active for a fairly short period of time, but they have already managed to garner some well deserved praise with their dense, sludgy take on old school death metal. Crushing and rhythmic, the imposing sound heard on their debut demo, 2019’s Coffin Mulch, and their equally impressive debut EP, Septic Funeral, has cemented the Glasgow-based quartet as one of the the country’s most promising new acts. The band’s long-awaited debut album Spectral Intercession captures their core sound on a much grander, though nonetheless ferocious, scale, and lays some incredibly solid foundations for their musical future.
Spectral Intercession, with its opaque and demented sound, is a great start to the record, with the initial chaos giving way to chunky guitar hooks, pummelling drums and harsh, barking vocals, with a few more polished hooks thrown in towards the song’s climax to bring a leaner edge to the mix. Musically, it’s a great balance of old school death metal and thrash, possessing a classic feel that makes this sound even more primal and intense. Into The Blood is a domineering and punchy offering, sticking to the same muscular mid-tempo style that characterised the album’s opener, but providing slicker, imaginative leads that transform this into a catchier slab of bestial death metal with some excellent sinister passages as it progresses.
Mental Suicide, another bleak, crawling monolith with huge guitars, rumbling bass and thunderous, percussive drums, creates a powerful, near impenetrable wall of sound, with the coarse, roaring vocals and angular leads cutting through and injecting an acerbic edge that makes this all the more impactful and ferocious. In The Grip Of Death is a brief but brutal slab of death metal with a faster pace and more urgent musicianship which makes it a lot more compelling. With equally unhinged and emotive vocals, it serves as a far more belligerent take on the style that has dominated the album up to this point.
Fall Of Gaia is a continuation of this more visceral approach, with the fusion of death metal and punk influences combining for a rabid, punishing juggernaut with just a hint of classic ENTOMBED about it, with the frenetic drumming and guitar flourishes adding an air of unpredictability to what is arguably one of the album’s highlights. Gateway To The Unseen, with its ominous, slow-burning intro, has a more atmospheric sound to it, with a murky production giving this song a claustrophobic sound. It’s got a far tighter sound, with the drums especially possessing a machine gun precision that meshes well with the biting leads and bellicose vocals, crafting a more focused and driven sound that grabs the listener’s attention.
Infernal Mass, another short, brooding piece of beefy death metal, feels far more rhythmic and controlled than it should be, with the exception of some tight, punk drumming and some grating guitar work, but lacks the sort of blistering pace and intensity that a short, sharp shock of a song like this truly needs to have maximum impact. Eternal Enslavement, by contrast, manages to use its sprawling, longer form to gradually introduce new elements, from the sludgy bass hooks and cavernous drums, through to the weighty, fuller guitar sound and throaty, acerbic vocals. Slowly but surely, it transforms from a fairly measured, even epic, take on death metal to a much more venom-soaked and bellicose sound, bringing the album to a close in an incredibly adventurous and dramatic fashion.
Like a lot of debut albums, Spectral Intercession is a powerful statement that is still not without the need for a few minor tweaks to perfect it. The one thing that prevents this from being a magnificent debut is its relative lack of musical variety. The band find their pace and tone and for the most parts sticks within it, with a few more belligerent sections and individual sounds showing a darker and more feral promise that it would be great to see explored more thoroughly in the future, opting to stick to a thicker, rhythmic sound for the most part. With time this could easily change, and other than this minor gripe, it’s really hard to find fault with this record, as it summarises COFFIN MULCH‘s sound and style and puts down some extremely solid foundations on which to develop their musical legacy.
Rating: 7/10
Spectral Intercession is out now via Memento Mori.
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