“I don’t know! I can’t remember really! I ain’t got something called memory. I drink too much beer!!!” Uffe Cederlund, Hypnosia Fanzine #2

As their first official EP repeatedly grinds through its “doomed one minute, slapping the next” motions I can appreciate the care given to variety by the hands of Glasgow, Scotland-based death metal quartet Coffin Mulch. ‘Septic Funeral‘ is a step beyond the irascible tumble of their debut demo, uh ‘Demo‘ (2019) from a few years back in the sense that their thuggish downtuned and cavernous sound now manages somewhat notable atmosphere. Much of this seems to stem from deeper attention paid to death/doom metal by way of guitarist David M. who’d been a fixture in speed metal band Vuil before leaning into death metal projects, including Enwretch. So, again, the main reason I’d dig a bit deeper within the otherwise standardized chunk of Coffin Mulch is in witness of some considerable growth in form and attack since the first demo. The five minute death/doom metal influenced pieces (“Septic Funeral”, “Onward to Death”) reek of the weirdness of bands like Cryptic Brood, the shorter ripping pieces (“Black Liquification”, “Live Again”) hit some deathgrind speeds and touch upon the feral energy of Entombed‘s ‘Clandestine’, which’ll always catch my ear despite the tiredness of the imitation HM-2 geared sound. It goes without saying the aped Napalm Death riff on “Carnivorous Subjugation” speak directly to the part of my brain that spent several years listening to nothing but ‘Harmony Corruption’ and as these smaller references begin to add up in my head I suppose Coffin Mulch make their case, even if the thugged guitar tone and skank beats are cliché around the edges of the good stuff. There are plenty of small annoyances for my own taste, bass guitar needs to be ‘cleaner’ and even louder, nobody needs those squishy noises and stock marching sounds, but hey overall we’ve got a death metal band pinching off pretty solid logs of actual death metal here. Modulating between the doom and the grind of it all is a keen structural path to follow yet I’d emphasize the need for the actual riffs to contain hooks, without this I’ve got no reason to jump back into a record beyond a cool album cover as I’ve already got my Nihilist and Nirvana 2002 compilations to rely on for the good shit that eternally sticks beyond points of style. Love the off-character Adam Burke artwork, excellent dynamic atmosphere on the recording, solid performances (bass guitar could be louder), and a great step up for Coffin Mulch in general. Moderately high recommendation.

Info:
ARTIST:	COFFIN MULCH
TITLE:	Septic Funeral
TYPE:	EP
LABEL(S):	Redefining Darkness Records [LP, CD] At War With False Noise [12″ LP] Caligari Records [Tape]
RELEASE DATE:	February 5th, 2021
BUY & LISTEN:	Bandcamp
GENRE(S):	Death Metal

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