Finland’s Caskets Open release their new album, Concrete Realms of Pain, on March 20 through Nine Records. It is the depressive Helsinki three-piece’s fourth full-length in a tenure that dates back to 2007, and it brings together nine songs for 46 minutes that alternate between willful slog and outright thrashing punk. With little more notice than a grunt from bassist/vocalist Timo Ketola, the drums of Pyry Ojala and the riffs of Antti Ronkainen might take off at any moment and speedily complement the downer movement of a cut like the opener “Four Shrines” or the later and especially grueling “Tadens Tolthe” — which goes from minimalist crawl to Misfits-style brashness — with a rush of raw adrenaline.

The more-melodic-but-also-screamy “Homecoming” and decidedly midtempo “Tunnel Guard,” which follows, find some measure of balance between the two extremes as laid out in “Four Shrines” and all-go second cut “Riding on a Rotten Horse,” but Concrete Realms of Pain continues to bring in a variety of sonic elements, be it the Type O Negative-style bass fuzz on “White Animal,” the chug and starts and stops of “Blossom,” and the melo-punk-into-noise-wash procession of “Soul Stained Glass” ahead of the building finale “Pale Hunter,” which moves from the ground up in increasingly aggro fashion.

There are shades of the rich history of Finnish doom to be heard here and there among the other aspects of the band’s persona, but Caskets Open have clearly established parameters for their sound and work effectively in pushing forward one side, the other, or in some cases, both at the same time. It works well for them throughout Concrete Realms of Pain in creating an atmosphere that’s never quite lush, but neither afraid to incorporate or cast off melody as the song requires, whichever song it might be. In the three tracks that top six minutes — “Four Shrines,” “Tadens Tolthe” and “Pale Hunter” — they’re able to find room to flesh out the journey from beginning to end more than, say, “Tunnel Guard,” which though it gets more aggressive vocally in its second half and Ketola tosses in one of the record’s several effective “ough” grunts, largely holds to its central pace and style around that.

Nothing against either approach — if anything, the diversity of the material is one of Concrete Realms of Pain‘s greatest strengths; it is a less predictable album because of it — but though the album itself is longer than was its 2017 predecessor, Follow Nothing, its songs seem shorter on average than anything Caskets Open have done before, which speaks to an interesting cohesion taking hold in their execution, perhaps even a shifting of focus to more traditionalist songcraft. No matter. In the center of the centerpiece, at the midpoint of “White Animal,” it’s still that bass fuzz getting the band’s point across.

Doom is engaged, internalized, reformed and deployed, and 13 years on from their formation, Caskets Open righteously hold onto a volatile sensibility that makes Concrete Realms of Pain as exciting as it sometimes seems barebones. It is a doom record, to be sure, but it nonetheless forces one to ask themselves exactly what that means and how that is judged. Righteous.

The video for “Tunnel Guard” is premiering below. Please have at it. PR wire info for Concrete Realms of Pain follows.

Enjoy:

Caskets Open, “Tunnel Guard” official video

“Tunnel Guard” from Caskets Open’s fourth full-length album “Concrete Realms of Pain”. Recorded and mixed at Tonehaven Recording Studio by Tom Brooke. Mastered by James Plotkin. Shot and edited by Sakari Rinta-Valkama.

Finnish Doom Lords Caskets Open will release Concrete Realms of Pain, the trio’s fourth album, March 20 on Nine Records.
Suicide plans in a nocturnal ski-jump tower, existential anxiety in a bleak sports bar, long walks in the shadows of the Central Park, Concrete Realms of Pain is a journey into experiences of loss and human suffering. Icicle sharp guitar leads guide the listener through sorrowful doom metal to gnarly hardcore punk parts. And of course the songs are enveloped by the band’s trademark buzzing bass sound. Caskets Open have outdone themselves on Concrete Realms of Pain.

Concrete Realms of Pain was recorded and mixed at Tonehaven Recording Studio by Tom Brooke. It was mastered by James Plotkin.

Track Listing:
1. Four Shrines
2. Riding on a Rotting Horse
3. Homecoming
4. Tunnel Guard
5. White Animal
6. Tadens Tolthe
7. Blossom
8. Soul Stained Glass
9. Pale Hunter

Line-up
Timo Ketola – bass, vocals
Antti Ronkainen – guitars
Pyry Ojala – drums

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Tags: Caskets Open, Caskets Open Concrete Realms of Pain, Concrete Realms of Pain, Finland, Helsinki, Nine Records

This entry was posted on Friday, March 6th, 2020 at 6:49 am and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.