Swamp Coffin - Drowning Glory

Swamp Coffin – Drowning Glory
Release Date: 27th September 2024
Label: APF Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Sludge, Doom, Stoner, Metal.
FFO: Iron Monkey, Mastiff, Kurokuma.
Review By: Mark Young

APF strike again!!

There is no time wasted in Swamp Coffin starting off proceedings with one of the heaviest riffs put to tape. Know You’re Worthless has an absolutely monstrous sound and is followed up by an ungodly vocal performance by Jon Rhodes, who has somehow symbiotically twinned his guitar with it. Getting behind that, they don’t rely on a repeated heavy motif, there is a lowdown and dirty melody in there, partially buried by that dense guitar tone, but it provides enough movement to prevent the song from becoming stale.

You know that this is only the start of the pummelling you are about to receive at their hands. That full on approach doesn’t waver, the aptly titled This Was Always Going To End In War comes in like an armoured assault. Jon’s vocals provide the centre-point here, with the instruments coming across in a flanking motion. It has more movement to it, but is no less heavy because of that. Drowning Glory takes that heaviness and moulds it into a form that sounds more like traditional sludge. The way it is built gives it movement without speed, and the use of the de-sludged melody line is a great way to allow a break to come in with a lead break that fits in completely. You just can’t get over how big it sounds, and how they just drop banger after banger, the riff structures are royal. Hypocritical Mass has that start that leads into a blacker than black, no quarter given attack whilst Chapter And Hearse has an almost lighter touch to it that comes in differently, its build providing a little more to absorb as it works its way through a more progressive journey. The ascending sequence especially hits, and the spoken word passage provides a little breathing space before it closes for good.

Terminally Cursed sees a return to the lumbering, city destroying monster riffs, and it is difficult to say much more than it is a bleak and savage beat down that offers no moments of light within it. Final statement, As Cold As Blood, is as nihilistic as it gets. The repeated ‘No one’s gonna fucking save you’ is just spat out, set against the blackened guitar and killer build. It’s remarkable that they have kept this level of intensity going right through with no dialling back, no soft or gentle moments offered as others might do. This is the sort of ride that once you get on, you don’t get off until they say so.

It is difficult to be more descriptive, especially where the music on offer attains a certain level of quality and stays there. Swamp Coffin fall into that category, with each song building on the insane levels of heaviness dropped in the track before, each set of riffs are unique to that song and are used once and once only. It is some of the blackest sludge you will come across this year and shows that extreme music is very healthy in the North of England. If you get a chance, check out their merch, especially their ‘Slowly We Rotherham’ tee, Obituary fans should love it!!