Getting to support and draw attention to new metal artists is one of the things I enjoy most about writing reviews.  When I get the chance to review bands from my home state of Minnesota it is especially special as our scene has had quite the burst of talent over the last few years.  This is no exception with Minnesota’s Coffinrot.

Formed in 2017 by guitarist Will Maravelas these guys play a fairly aggressively style of thrash tinged death metal that is quite well executed and demonstrated here with their debut effort Retribution Divine. The opening track “Mind Your Elders” opens up with an arpeggiated guitar line with harmony that would make Alex Skolnick from Testament proud.  Once the distortion and drummer Tom Tier’s kicks come in you know that these guys are not messing around. The guitar work of Will Maravelas and Erik Zidek is quite locked in and there is a pretty cool tapping section towards the middle of the song.  This isn’t anything that hasn’t been done before but it is arranged and played well enough that I find myself head banging throughout most of this.  Some really strong lead work on this track.

“Nature of the beast” is a chugger that builds nicely into a strong circle pit part right away. Holy smokes is Tom Tier’s double kick work dialed up to infinity and beyond on this one. Wow!  Vocalist Drew Blood kills it for most of the album handling most of the low and high vocals. Can’t really express how awesome of a release this is.  Most of the tracks on Retribution Divine are in the three to four minute range which works perfect for the style of death metal in which they play.  There are a few six to seven minute tracks on the album as well.  “Sentenced to Serve” opens up with a cool clean part that builds nicely into the distorted parts.  I really like the bridge section on this particular track as it continues to show off the strong lead proficiency of Zidek and Maravelas and also Harris makes his presence in the bass department felt on this track.  With a last name like Harris one would hope that a bassist would make their presence felt!

I must say for only being together a year I am pretty impressed with how quickly this material was written, arranged, recorded and produced.  Minnesota is slowly become more Metalsota with each strong release coming forth in what seems like by the month. With groups like Sunless having signed to labels like Willowtip Records and groups like Voidrot signing with Everlasting Spew Records we have had some unique groups come from the land of ten thousand lakes and Coffinrot continues to be a part of this new tradition of talented groups coming from the Midwest. I will continue to watch Coffinrot with an open ear as they continue to evolve into their sound.  I can only imagine the material will get more meticulous with time but again for only being together as long as they have this debut is really quite impressive.  Check this out.

 

[Visit the band's website]

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