The Rotherham trio Swamp Coffin are back with their ungodly wall of sound to make sure you’re pummelled dead once again.
Formed in 2016 these lads merge sludge & doom metal in their own very british way to create these groovy, dirge like tracks that are concussion inducing headbang anthems.
Their newest album “Drowning Glory” will be their first in three years. 2021 saw the release of “Noose Almighty” their first full length album. A topnotch debt & some of their most wickedly heavy tracks.
“Drowning Glory” and its opening track “Know You’re Worthless” goes in for the jugular straight way. A riff as heavy as a ton of bricks with pinch harmonics that will give you the stank face already has your attention. The track is a slower pace but it pulls you along with its heavy weight. Already the production sounds apocalyptic & vast. Top notch opener here.
Bringing the energy “This Was Always Going to End in War” picks up the pace by no way does it wayne with the riffing. This track has this hypnotic style of songwriting, the drums are pounding in a fury but the riff is very simple, plodding & very chromatic like. Which blends together this true wall of sound.
Drummer Dave Wistow’s double kick is really shown off here too. A brilliant blend of cymbal washes & thick drum tones give his kick a mammoth sound.
Title track “Drowning Glory” really plays with texture in its opening section. Clean echoing guitar leads but with sharp punishing hits of the band for a few bars before the clean guitar continues, this is catchy & beautiful. The track is an over seven minute journey of a sonic assault.
Within the track they really play with melody & incorporate these hooky riffs that just keep your ears engaged.
With the answer to what happens when you mix Crowbar & South Yorkshire “Chapter and Hearse” is a great track that brings stunning clean guitar elements to these heavy riffs that greet this glorious pairing that fills the track with weight & melancholy. A instrumental section with a very stark quote sample builds the track nicely before the band unleash with full force & close the song out in the most powerful manner.
Closing track might be the most chaotic & punishing on the album. It has the catchy & groovy element the band are so great at, but the use of dissonant chords really add an eerie element to the track. Vocalist / Guitarist Jon Rhodes singing on this track might just be the most vile & expressive on the album. This track really closes the album on a high & keeps the energy high right until its last few moments.
Swamp Coffin over their last few releases have been able to craft their own brand of sludge meets doom with these blackened & even some death metal elements into their music to create something new, exciting & really genuine. “Drowning Glory” is their most barbaric & bludgeoning release to date, but it’s filled with catchy, elegant moments that make it sound out from the rest & raises them shoulders above everyone else.
Review: Joseph Mitchell
Drowning In Glory is out via APF Records on 27th September
Pre-order the album now – https://www.apfrecords.co.uk/albums/drowning-glory
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