The Fleshland will be the fourth album overall and the Relapse Records debut from destructive Japanese bashers Coffins, who’ve filled the time since their 2008 Buried Death full-length by sharing splits with Hooded Menace, Sourvein, Stormcrow and a host of others. Relapse has pre-orders up for the album (link below) and a trailer has been unveiled containing what I assume is just a flash of the nastiness the record is sure to contain.

Says the PR wire:

COFFINS: Japanese Death/Doom Monarchs Announce Details To Debut Relapse LP

The massively anticipated fourth LP from Japan’s death/doom metal kings COFFINS will finally arrive this Summer in the form of The Fleshland, the band’s maiden LP under the banner of Relapse Records.

The Fleshland will be the first proper studio album from COFFINS since their commended Buried Death album, released by 20 Buck Spin in 2008, undoubtedly making it one of the most awaited death/doom albums of 2013. Recorded late 2012/early 2013 at Tokyo’s Noise Room Studio with engineer Shigenori Kobayashi, and produced by Bungo Uchino and the rest of COFFINS, The Fleshland shows the revamped and expanded band lineup smashing down everything in their path, having upped the lineup from a trio to a quartet with a new drummer and full-time vocalist since Buried Death. Nine grisly numbers thunder with the unbeatable mid-paced COFFINS stomp, laying down over forty-five minutes of bruising low-end sludge-infiltrated, plodding doom with possibly the best production values in the band’s meaty catalog of carnage.

Relapse will roll out The Fleshland via CD, download and mammoth 2xLP, the bloodsoaked opus now locked for a North American release date of July 9th. In addition, a deluxe black and white artwork edition on 2xLP, Cassette and CD will be made available only via Relapse direct. Today the label has released the album’s cover art — as with their previous albums, COFFINS having once again chosen the gruesome hands of Chris Moyen (Morbosidad, Black Witchery, Incantation, Blasphemy, etc.) to illustrate their works — along with a visual trailer for the album as well as preorder packages. Check it all out RIGHT HERE.

Since infiltrating the death/doom underworld in 1996, Tokyo-based COFFINS has released a mountain of material via three LPs and several EPs through labels including Razorback, Hammerheart, Imperium Productions, 20 Buck Spin and others, not to mention their arsenal of splits with bands from across the heavy spectrum including Otesanek, Spun In Darkness, Warhammer, Sourvein, Macabra, Mala Suerte and more. With a sound comparable to a bathtub drain backing up with rotting human flesh while Satan himself spins his Motörhead at half the recommended RPM’s, COFFINS releases are a detrimental purchase to all diehards of Autopsy, Hooded Menace, Pungent Stench, Corrupted and Encoffination.

Stay tuned for more info on the The Fleshland as well as 2013 live actions for COFFINS to be released in the coming weeks.

The Fleshland Track Listing:
1. Here Comes Perdition
2. Hellbringer
3. The Colossal Hole
4. No Saviour
5. The Vacant Pale Vessel
6. Rotten Disciples
7. Dishuman
8. The Unhallowed Tide
9. Tormentopia

COFFINS Crew:
Bungo Uchino – guitars/vocals
Takuya Koreeda – bass/vocals
Ryo Yamada – vocals
Satoshi Hikida – drums

Coffins, The Fleshland album trailer

Whether you were there or not, part of the Roadburn experience each year is reliving it (and hearing the bands you didn’t get to see) with the flood of live audio streams that always emerge after the festival is over. As with last year, the fest was kind enough to grant me permission to host the links to the streams where you can listen, so here’s the first bunch. Some killer sets here from Acid King, Naam, Stone Axe (I’d recommend starting there), Evoken, Hooded Menace et al. Hope you like it heavy.

Acid King – Live at Roadburn 2011
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44703686#ondemand.44703686

Naam – Live at Roadburn 2011
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44703729#ondemand.44703729

Trap Them – Live at Roadburn 2011
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44703723#ondemand.44703723

Stone Axe – Live at Roadburn 2011
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44703718#ondemand.44703718

Hooded Menace – Live at Roadburn 2011
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44703708#ondemand.44703708

Coffins – Live at Roadburn 2011
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44703693#ondemand.44703693

Evoken – Live at Roadburn 2011
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44703697#ondemand.44703697

Grave Miasma – Live at Roadburn 2011
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44703701#ondemand.44703701

Special thanks to Walter and Roadburn for the many kindnesses they’ve shown The Obelisk, this among them.

6:25PM – Sunday – Hotel Mercure, Tilburg

Japanese bringers of death Coffins had just started up on the main stage, but I had a vision of myself a year ago gruelingly trying to wrap up the entire Afterburner in one post (I did it, sort of) and decided promptly to stop back into the hotel and get a grip on the day. It’s amazing how laid back the Afterburner is. A lot of the rush and push is gone – probably because there are only half as many active stages and almost no time conflicts between bands – and everyone seems calmer. The change is enjoyable, and it’s a really smart way to end the fest.

Now that I’ve seen it three times, I think I can safely say Roadburn is probably the best live production in the world. Certainly the best I’ve ever seen. I’ve been to festivals where the people putting it on have a clue, and I’ve been to festivals where that’s very much not the case, but here, it’s not even that Roadburn and the 013 know how to put on a show, but they know why they’re putting it on, and for whom. It’s a vibe like nothing I’ve ever experienced, and a hell of a way to spend a weekend.

I managed to walk into the Green Room just as the lights went down for Sungrazer. They were the only band playing this weekend whose album I brought with me to listen to on the plane, and I was really looking forward to seeing how they came across on stage. Their low-slung stoner rock was one of the highlights of the whole weekend, “Common Believer” and “Zero Zero” being particularly killer, and they announced a new album for later this year and closed with a new song that had a more expansive, psychedelic feel. I stood right up front for the whole set and could practically feel the heat coming from Rutger Smeets’ guitar amps.

The crowd was nuts for them, and though the fact that they’re Dutch natives might have something to do with that, I think more it was the riffs and the tones. There’s something about that kind of heavy psych that makes me so happy. I stood there and watched and I was glad to be there, and they were glad to be there, and everything worked out. It was a great experience, and they still have some kinks to work out performance-wise, but there’s nothing stopping them from being forerunners in the next Eurostoner generation if they want to be.

On Thursday, New York’s own Blood Farmers were on at the same time as Wovenhand, so I knew I definitely wanted to see them at the Afterburner. Doom for doomers – no other way to put it. They haven’t put out a record since their 1995 self-titled on Hellhound, but man, they didn’t miss a beat when it came to the kind of straightforward, riffy classic doom they wanted to elicit. With Coffin Joe (look it up) on the screen behind them, they doomed their way through their allotted 50 minutes and even went over time a little bit, having to end suddenly after finishing a song and saying, “Well, I guess that’s it.” They still got a good response from the main stage room.

Although Coffins were pretty heavy, I had interest in seeing Dragontears, but the Green Room was mostly full, so I stood in back for a couple minutes, then ran by the merch area and picked up the two Spindrift CDs for sale. Seemed the least I could do after missing their set for Sungrazer at the start of the day. Black Pyramid was there too with new merch, and Dave Sherman of Earthride is set to play bass later on tonight with Sourvein, so that should be a trip as well. Right now though, it’s Dutch guitar trio The Machine in the Green Room and Dead Meadow on the main stage, so it’s probably time I head back. More once I have it, and more pics after the jump.

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