COFFIN BIRTH : THE MIRACLE OF DEATH
Bleak Art Records
Coffin Birth are a Canadian act whose purpose in life seems to be combining their two greatest passions – thrash and horror! As schlocky and awful as that might seem on paper, this act have the musicianship and sheer balls to pull it off with a great deal of panache. “The Miracle of Death”, their debut full-length, actually saw the miasmic half-light of existence back in 2007, but with a fresh release due at the beginning of the fast approaching new year, there’s no better time to re-visit past triumphs.
After a gloriously over-the-top organ introduction in the form of “All Hallows Mass”, Coffin Birth get the graveyard party started with the tight, punchy riffing of “Arise from Damnation!”, an accessible, warm and catchy exercise in raspy-vocalled thrash, overlaid with evil themes. “The Pain of Being Dead” is fast and headbang-worthy, with lyrics that glory in their own grotesquery, whilst “Secrets in the Rotten Tree” has a tricksy, spiralling riff and an irresistible, stomping rhythm to its chorus that would make the dead move. It’s a great track, but it’s “Spiders of Insomnia” that really convinces me, with its low, traditional metal introduction, spooky synth background, squealing solos and evil groove. What the spiders of insomnia might actually be, I have no clue, but to pull off this combination of elements with no discernable cheesiness is a real feat.
The charm of “The Miracle of Death” might lie in the clear delight the band take in creating meaty, rabble-rousing heavy metal and thrash riffs, topped off with the kind of ridiculous solos you’d have to be made of stone not to play along with on ye old air guitar. Strong song-writing and a full-blooded execution makes this an easy album to like; the series of powerful moves that make up the breakneck and stripped-down “Fatal Baptism”, for example, are common tongue to extreme metal fans the world over, but at the same time, Coffin Birth put their own distinctive stamp on proceedings with an eerie yet camp synth intro and some more of those Venom-esque lyrics.
Pick up “The Miracle of Death” and you’ll be surprised how logical ‘graveyard thrash’ seems by the time you’ve given it a spin. Mixing classic thrash sensibilities and horror-score synths with a lot of trad metal spirit (the band list King Diamond and Mercyful Fate as their key influences, and they’re weirdly appropriate inheritors of that tradition) this could have been daft but it’s actually inspired, and skilfully rendered. Before the new opus hits, I recommend that you give your neck muscles a new year’s workout with this highly enjoyable debut.
77/100
ELLEN SIMPSON
