Penny Coffin - “Conscripted Morality” CD

A vicious and mind-bending new EP from the masters of violent, suffocating industrial-strength death metal.

Penny Coffin have been making a lot of waves up here the past few years. They’re one of those bands who don’t play very often, but when they do, everyone is like “jeez those guys are fucking good, eh?”. They play a really dense death metal, influenced by the Tucker-era Morbid Angel style, with ultra-heavy guitar layers backed by clinical rhythm. The ultra-chugging, relentless riffing brings to mind Godflesh or Prong as much as it does Asphyx though! It’s repetitive, almost ambient in construction, with passages of sub-death industrial torment between tunes. This is an important point: I’ve heard Penny Coffin described as “old school death metal”, but that’s such a lazy descriptor, cos no old school death metal bands sounded like this. Even check out the artwork, the lyrics: this isn’t the usual staid death metal histrionics going on here. You won’t find a song about zombies getting splattered and there’s not a bullet belt in sight. Atmosphere is ALL and this is some of the most atmospheric, twisted metal you’ll hear this year.

Limited to 500 copies in stickered 4-panel digipak sleeves with matte lamination.

£5, link in bio!

"Cloaked in robes soaked in blood, the ethereal chanting of an ancient ritual sets a dark tone before the hammer falls on the skull of the human sacrifice, kicking and screaming at the alter in the dark of night. Those who have suffered the plague and pestilence have gone feral and must be released to the Wrathful Gods for punishment for their crimes in a hope that what remains of humanity can survive and so the Death Metal onslaught of “Ballistic” begins raging atmospherics that burn as they touch the flesh. The percussive artillery shelling from Rodopoulos is nothing short of a blitzkrieg before Joseph Edward Kelly burns Blackened Death Metal into something with an ocean of Death Groove for the final third, building with the addition of darkly melancholic leads. The growth in Penny Coffin as they play together is plain to see, with each subsequent record they have refined and redefined their sound in the forges at the heart of Valhalla, their blades now cutting like a hot knife though butter. The swirling, brooding and sinister “Predator” is as vicious as they come, soaked in Groove laden Death Metal that should see them ascend the shades of night to Maryland Death Fest in the US, such is the power and strength to dominate that the quartet possess. It is as if they have been injected with the blood of Glen Benton as “Slowdive” hits, a cut which is anything but slow as it pulverises the brains thanks to the rampaging rhythm section while an ethereal mid section adding a haunting touch. The second half however is pure decimation of the weak, a circle pit starter that creates a tornado and opens a portal to another dimension as the demonic vocals call from the void. It’s savage but in an intelligently calculated and malicious way so the heads don’t just bang, they roll as if severed by a guillotine so like a fine wine, Penny Coffin have matured to give us something of real verve and swagger. The final cut is the deepest as it approaches eight minutes and with “Conscripted Morality” they create a magnum opus of a tune to help you breathe more easily. Vocally sparse it has been formulated to have an almost hypnotic quality as it rages like the four winds at the height of a storm, building the mountain with driving riffs that feel like rain lashing down as the percussive thunder roars in the distance. Then there is calm as the ancient ritual begins once more… Penny Coffin, with these Ferrero Rocher you’re really spoiling us!" (Metal Noise)