I recently placed my head into the cannon’s mouth of new releases from the labels Me Saco Un Ojo and Rotted Life, and I was subsequently greeted with a face-imploding one-tonne ball of steel in the shape of a new debut album from Canada’s Coprolith. I am indeed now writing this review from my hospital bed after undergoing a thirty-eight hour surgery in an attempt to salvage my obliterated cranium. So, to that cannonball-induced end, and whilst utilising whatever pieces of diced brain matter that I have left within my decimated skull, I will now attempt to share my thoughts on this new record. Coprolith are a Death Metal quintet that was formed in 2023 and who suitably sit amongst their label peer acts for their thumping, stone age-brained take on traditional unrelenting gore devotion. Does this new release allow the band to successfully stand tall amongst the many notable names on the Me Saco Un Ojo roster? Well, in my now life-changing permanent state of full-facial disfigurement, my answer is… maybe?
This album, entitled ‘Putrescence’ embodies a lightless strain of Death Metal infused with plenty of Death/Doom elements that feel distinctly reminiscent of the band diSEMBOWELMENT. The vocal reverberations sound as if the microphone could have been placed in an adjacent room to the vocalist whilst he roars his distant and despondent bellows, this adds to the raw cavernous, torture room aesthetic of the release. The guitar tones are thick, chunky, and dark, and the instrumental performances frequently flit between tempos ranging from muscular, controlled haste to moments of sluggish weighty trudging. The title track sees the band begin by barrelling through a hefty initial progression like some sort of giant monstrous earth-tunnelling worm. The band then progresses through a variety of quality Doomy riffage whilst keenly exploiting their use of large-room spatial atmospherics.
The overall tone of the gloom-lurking lead guitar melodicism on ‘Birthed by Remorseless Flames’ reminds me of the band Cerebral Rot. The song is another torture dungeon playlist banger, and drummer Sebastian Alcamo brings plenty of pungent energy to the track, but I do wish that his parts were just ever so slightly louder in the overall mix. The closer ‘Possessed by Incoherent Violent Suggestions’ brings with it some interesting start/stop instrumental dynamism and ties the whole album together by reinforcing the linear style that the band has to offer.
There are plenty of entertaining facets to this Coprolith debut, and for fans of all things related to musical violent sadism, you should at least check out some of the tracks that I’ve referenced. The approach to atmospherics on this album is a decent representation of a tried and true morbid musical vision, but the band often sound like they are simply going through the motions necessary to pull it off. The members of Coprolith clearly have the chops to perform beastly underground Death Metal. That said, they certainly need to apply more attention to their currently forgettable songwriting. At present, I can’t see this record constituting anything more than one drop of blood within an endless ocean of contemporary old-school Death Metal releases. For fans of Cerebral Rot, Incantation, diSEMBOWELMENT, Asphyx, and Mortiferum.
