Coffins - Ancient Torture

Coffins is one of Japan's best kept secrets. More of an underground Doom-Death kind of band, the group has only put out two full length albums and the rest multiple split albums and demos. As lots of these albums are hard to find, the band felt it was appropriate to compile everything together on a two disc set full of rareties that will certainly appeal to fans of the band itself, along with those of old-school Death or Doom Metal. Coffins creates a very distorted, demo-like atmosphere with low fi buzzing guitars and guttural vocals that sound like a cross between Bloodbath and very early Paradise Lost. Not really bent on being the most 'technical band' out there, they trade virtuoso for basic, catchy, churning rhythms played at two speeds- fast and slow. The faster Death Metal oriented tracks such as "Offalgrinder" and "Stillbirth" sound like older Suffocation performed live- the guitars are a bit too distorted with the vocals leading the charge, making the drums difficult to enjoy, let alone the bass. Other slower tracks like "The Cracks Of Doom" are easier to digest, but can get a bit too simplistic as it feels like the same riffs are being recycled over and over for Funeral Doom effect. While the atmosphere is depressing and creepy, especially near the beginning, the rhythms can tend to get boring after a while.

The selection of music is a bit all over the place between both discs. Some are direct releases from Coffins from the splits without much difference from the originals or what they released on their full length albums. There are lots of covers of classic bands such as Venom turned into Death Metal glory, but they don't always work out. The Asphyx cover of "Wasteland Of Terror" feels like Grave on overdrive and is far too distorted to get into, like a Punk Black Metal song gone bad. On the other hand, the cover of Goatlord's "Acid Orgy" is an excellent transition from Black Metal to pure, crushing Doom Metal, with some excellent 'vocal and bass' only moments. Covering UK Doom Metal band Cathedral's "Ebony Tears"seemed like too easy an effort as the music is already Doom Metal based, and yet at the same time it is Coffins's most melodic output, touching on Paradise Lost the most on the compilation. There is a 'remix' of "Decapitated Crawl," but it only sounds like someone threw in some white noise on top of everything else to make a difference, making it feel like a poor Fear Factory rendition with a cybernetic touch from added distortion. There is also a live track involved of the Venom cover, and here fans can really hear the difference between studio Coffins and live Coffins. Live, Coffins is even less audible, with the guitars turned way up and the vocals buried with the drums and bass, making it not as enjoyable as the other version. While the humanistic atmosphere due to lack of studio tampering is appreciated, fans will most likely want to skip it.

Overall, this compilation is a good choice of 'hard to find' music that will serve both die hard and new fans to Coffins. Rather than serve up a bunch of wasted rehashing of tracks for a 'best of' that isn't of its time yet, Coffins and Deepsend Records have brought forth a spewing effort that is a memory of older 90s doom and death rather than a technical, clean madhouse that tends to populate Metal these days. This music is ugly and despicable, but also hypnotic and perfect for what Death and Doom metal were originating before the more melodic types got involved. For those who have located pretty much everything Coffins has put out, then these two discs may be a bit useless. However, if one has just gotten the full length albums and loved them for their dark qualities, then 'Ancient Torture' will provide more than enough for the earhole.

Disc 1
1. Eat Your Shit
2. Corpse Parade
3. Offalgrinder
4.The Day Man Lost (cover Carnage)
5. The Cracks Of Doom
6. Ebony Tears (cover Cathedral)
7. Decapitated Crawl
8. Abysmal Blood Sea
9. Cremated Remains
10. Stillbirth
11. Wasteland Of Terror (cover Asphyx)

Disc 2
1. Mortification To Ruin
2. Decapitated Crawl
3. Bonesawer (cover Pungent Stench)
4. Countless Grave
5. Evil Infection
6. Only Corpse
7. Acid Orgy (cover Goatlord)
8. Torture
9. Warhead (cover Venom)
10. Warhead (live) (cover Venom)