Although ‘Sinister Oath’ is the band’s sixth full-length and I have picked up quite a few of their smaller releases over the years, it is telling that for a moment I actually thought that 2008’s ‘Buried Death’ was Coffins’ last full-length album. Not saying that the two albums that later appeared are anything really bad, but this way I experienced first-hand that they were at least much less memorable. Together with my growing disliking of full-length albums in the Coffins-style of Death Metal, I am still sticking to the idea that this sort of music works best on short players, made that I was not really stoked for a new Coffins album.
And, frankly, for a change let’s start with a conclusion of sorts, ‘Sinister Oath’ didn’t do much to make me change my mind. The long running Coffins formula of down tuned riffing and slow tempos is still very much intact, but the “problem” with some of the band’s later material is showing here as well. While some people might find that the slower sections, almost bordering Sludge territories, was adding something fresh to the music, it actually ended up breaking much of the energy, especially on the full-length albums.
That is very much the same on ‘Sinister Oath’. Certainly there are a few songs that are worth hearing when you are in for some decent, yet unspectacular Death Metal. But it is songs like ‘Everlasting Spiral’ that really feels like an endless boring drone, much living up to its title. Those dragging tracks do really take all the power and natural flow out of the album and makes it almost unbearable to sit through in its entirety.
While this might all sound like I am in the corner of the haters, I can assure you, that is not quite the case. I admire the band’s shorter work and the albums up to the aforementioned ‘Buried Death’, that all either had a very nice grainy and rough edge to it or a relentless pummelling energy. Also on stage the band has been nothing but impressing. And, yes, I am aware that people’s taste in music may differ, it is also fair to say that this once pioneering band has now been caught up or even overtaken by a number of its peers.
