If you are ready for a colossal onslaught on your senses, then ‘Release My Suffering’ from California’s GoreSkinCoffin is the next acquisition for you.

The release opens with an absolute torrent of abuse and battering, ‘The Plague Fat’ sees chugging riffs and blackened vocals screamed with intent and purpose, like that of a butcher hacking up a Bovidae carcass from their latest hunt. The musical score is measured and precise while still retaining an air of manic violence with the drum work being ferocious and bulldozing from all angles. There is a definite blackened rawness to the track, the maniacal tempo is exhilarating, and the aggro generated is nothing short of wonderous.

The album continues with ‘Wrath And Ruin’, clocking in at just over the three-minute mark and the track the band chose to release as a single in 2021. Guitars take the forefront, and the vocals which support the weird and wonderful fret work are indistinguishable in their appearance. The words are spat out with true pain and agony before the drums punctuate the track mid flow and seem to bring the track back onto a path of demented ferocity and vehement psychosis. The track has two definite faces to it, the first being one which could easily sit well within the confines of a sanatorium positioned well within some deep dark forest and the latter being one of a well-constructed mauling and thrashing attack. The vocals are talented, and the strings create a mesmerising, if not a little bewildering, frenetic aural exhibition.

Title track, ‘Release My Suffering’, is next and this continues in very much the same tradition which has been built so far. The backbone of the track is more crushing and measured with the addition of chimes and a thrashy undertone. There are small pockets of respite created with slight pauses in the proceedings before you are dragged back into the riot with more purpose and aggression, each section of the track builds to a crescendo at the ultimate segment of the song and the track leaves you bruised and beaten, begging you to throw your hands up in submission.

‘It Will Not Die’ starts with a chilling scream from the lungs of Cody Winter as he is embroiled in the attitude and savagery omitted from his band mates. Once the initial tsunami dies off a little, the track morphs into more of a mature and determined piece of art. The riffs have ripened and there are interludes where the severity dies down a little in order to ensure the complexity and alternating speeds are observed and absorbed by the listener with the respect and regard it so rightly deserves.

‘Elegy For Mankind’s Failing’ starts with a beautiful intro and continues in a diverse style to that we have previously been carved open with. The backbone is more layered with less ferocity and brutality allowing the strings of Reckis and Stark to showcase differing depths and potencies generating an altogether altered yet beautiful track from start to finish. The vocals from Winter are more pronounced and each word is now more noticeable than just generalised screams and howls, more of a blackened ballad emerging from the flames of its predecessors and making for a scenic abode on the barren and frost ridden landscape of the album as a whole.

‘Defiant Misanthropy’ resorts back to the anger and rage, the vocals are expelled with true determination and vengeance. There is an air of bitterness amongst the screams and the guitars spawn a multifarious abode with the drum work from Dean Rice being truly exquisite and gripping. This track only concretes the theory that the album is evolving and creating a multi-dimensional vehicle on which the band can ply their blasphemous gore ridden trade on.

‘Lamentations For A Broken Angel’ is the final track and is an ending delivered way too short for my liking. The album feels like it has a lot more in reserve and a lot more ready to deliver had it been agreed to let this beast of the leash in all its glory. That being said, this track is monumental in its deliverance of the beating it delivers. Again, it steps up the complexity and the maturity which has been injected into it. The vocals are next level and these help transport us to a more developed and seasoned style and attitude, with the musical circumference enveloping the track being sophisticated and progressed compared to the forefathers who have fallen before them. The track is enlivening and invigorating, and the skins and fret boards work well in unison to create a platform from which to springboard off in the growth and fruition of the track and thus the album itself.

This is an album you need to become accustomed with and give it the attention and devotion it deserves. Whilst it may straddle two or three separate genre camps, maybe even more than that, it certainly needs to be visited by anyone with an interest in extreme music of any guise. This is one which grows and adapts so pick it up, drop the needle on the first groove of the vinyl and enjoy!!

(8/10 Phil Pountney)

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https://funeralgoatrecords.bandcamp.com/album/release-my-suffering-preview