Coffin Rot : "Dreams of the Disturbed"

 Portland has been pumping out some metal. Coffin Rot is another strong case for the city, as it's dark and dense, but with enough musical prowess to prove they are not just trying to bludgeon you into submission.  Grooving riffs instead of hyper-fast aggression in your face certainly helps, though they do gradually begin introducing faster passages on the second song. If you are a guitar-playing metalhead kid, you should dig this album. When they lock into a solid chug it's impressive so just your run-of-the-mill death metal fans looking for something to headbang to can get into this. 

One of the most impressive moments is when they switch the vocals up on "Lurking in the Cemetary"  to a more articulated cadence, from the low gurgle that dominated the first two songs. The drummer gets the job done and uses restraint, which is important as I heard many death metal bands holding it together riff -wise but the drummer tries to rush things with overzealous playing. They lay on the speed going into  "Unmarked Shallow, Grave". "Living Cremation" sped past me on the first listen, so I had to go back and give it another listen to see what I missed.  It's a very straightforward Cannibal Corpse brand of death metal that does not capitalize on some songwriting skills they have shown themselves possessing. "Hands of Death" is similar though broken up by a more deliberate muted riff, and the rumble of the bass is more present. It's not as solid as what they started off with but it doesn't suck either. 

"Predator Become Prey" works off a relentless aggression that churns the song along. It's more deliberate in its chug while not forsaking the aggression making it a more effective song rather than just grinding out a cool sound. The pour on the speed for the last song, which is more of a blur despite opening with greater intent, the vocals do create more of a chorus feel, but it feels a little more like every other death metal band. Breaking the six-minute mark there is room for a more nuanced arrangement that they get around to midway in as things break down into a melodic guitar part before going into a mosh-inducing riff. You can hear a bit of Slayer influence in how this is done.I will give this album an 8.5 and see how it grows on me, the more the rely on speed towards the end the more it sounds like most death metal but there is a lot of promise here nad over all their second album is a success. 

pst459