Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Coffinworm – Great Bringer of Night

May 25, 2012 • Flenser Recordings

It usually takes a top-quality band to produce a demo worth making into a full-fledged release. Great Bringer of Night's tracks originally appeared on their demo and have received a remastering treatment from none other than James Plotkin. The band does indeed sound miles better because of it, though it's arguable whether it was worth remastering in the first place.

Coffinworm has a very slow, plodding sludge/doom hybrid sound, although it has a very dirty and angular edge to it accentuated by a bit of black metal and punk influence here and there. The guitar riffs and vocals can sound very tortured at times, and the repetitive and somewhat groovy drums accentuate this. It's an interesting style, although nothing particularly unique (in fact I could probably repeat my Inter Arma review here and it would describe Coffinworm equally well).

Unfortunately there is a bit too much plodding for their own good. Many of the tracks seem to stomp along aimlessly in blind frustration and tension without release. They do pull off a good style contrast with the faster songs, namely "Start Saving for Your Funeral" and "Spitting in Infinity's Asshole", which are consequently the two better songs; still, the songwriting feels very lacking with a lot of repetition and passages that go nowhere.

It's not a horrible experience, of course. The band is proficient and they really aren't that bad, even if it is tough to pay attention to what's going on most of the time. My ultimate recommendation for Coffinworm is to move on. You probably have a good thing going but you are dwelling on these same tracks too much—after all, this is the third time you've put them out (demo, first album, demo re-release). Write something new, something different, and leave your demo tracks behind you. It's okay to let go.

5

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