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COFFIN MULCH
Spectral Intercession

Memento Mori / At War With False Noise / Dry Cough (2023)
Rating: 8/10

When Scottish death metallers Coffin Mulch covered the Nihilist / Entombed track ‘Supposed To Rot’ not so long ago, I didn’t realise it was a clue as to how this long awaited debut full-length album would sound. Spectral Intercession certainly channels that classic Entombed sound from the Swedes debut Left Hand Path (1990) and their sophomore outing Clandestine (1991).

Considering just how many bands (and not just those of Swedish design) are mimicking that buzzsaw groove I’m quite shocked to hear Coffin Mulch adopting such a style. Maybe I expected something far more grim and pungent and, dare I say it, slightly more original.

The UK death metal scene, particularly the Scottish community, is so healthy and bludgeoning with acts like Gouger and BrainBath, and to some extent Coffin Mulch, after their 2021 Septic Funeral EP, could be considered at the forefront. Followers of the band will no doubt lap at the gurgling shores of what is still a fine platter. There are flashes of Asphyx and dashes of Pestilence, but fronted by L-G Petrov, and the result is a rather groove-based, buzzsaw rush littered with D-beat devastation and a punky ferocity.

It’s all very catchy, if somewhat familiar from the off with the bludgeoning title track dripping with ghastly vocal gasps. But as the album unravels I find myself craving the gloomier segments plus those rich mid-tempo chugs, such as those which open ‘Into The Blood’ and the infectious ‘Fall Of Gaia’, while ‘Gateway To The Unseen’ twists with a melodious yet macabre perversity. The steady, gnashing dynamics almost drift like a deathlier Celtic Frost, but the best track is closer ‘Eternal Enslavement’, simply because of its morbid air and sepulchral grinds. There is plenty here to chomp on with an abundance of fat, buzzing riffs coupled with cavernous percussion, but you can’t deny the strong odour of familiarity which in turn becomes a tad formulaic.

Spectral Intercession is a true nod to the old school dynamics, but for me the Swedish churns have somewhat taken me aback. In a sense the ghoulish and garish kaleidoscopic horrors of the cover flatter to deceive because musically this is not the putrid onslaught I was expecting, and as I said at the beginning this album takes on a rather standard and over-used level of structuring. Not quite worth the wait then, although I’m sure many Coffin Mulch fans will disagree. But hey, opinions are as common as HM-2 pedals.

Neil Arnold

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