There are bands that you like, there are bands, that you love, there are bands you may despise and there are bands that are simply…meh. That’s the beauty of the wonderful world of metal that we live and breathe. Such is the breadth of musical ideas, frames of reference, backgrounds, colours, creeds, political ideals that manifest themselves into songs, creative juices spilling over your cuffs and into your morning coffee. Point is, there are bands, for one reason or another, that stick out from the crowd, be it their look, their manifesto or more importantly, their music. You may view this as the world’s stupidest statement, and on one hand you may be right, but on the other hand, there are a plethora of bands out there, where the music isn’t interesting and is written and created without joy and unfortunately this seems to apply to the majority of clag currently out there. But there are the exceptions to the rule, where music is played with fervour and sunshine, with the express purpose of confusing, delighting, titillating, and infuriating in equal measures. As you may have surmised, Maryland natives Full Of Hell fall firmly into the latter category. Their numerous releases since their inception over fifteen years ago, have seen the band confound and conflate various musical genres, none-more so than on 2023’s collaboration with Philadelphian band Nothing which took the form of the album ‘When No Birds Sang’, which took Full Of Hell’s blackened and sludgy grindcore, and transformed it into glacial, atmospheric landscapes, featuring lush beds of keyboard induced melancholy. Don’t get me wrong it still had it’s moments of ferociousness and face melting guitar theatrics on a bed of gargled vocals, but this represented hitherto unexplored territories for the band and this is a theme that continues into their new album Coagulated Bliss, which whilst not completely foregoing the more ethereal and brooding aspects of their last album, it supplants them with a new strain of Full Of Hell DNA as it stomps into new pastures, rakes up the field, and plants its flag into your sternum.
To say this album has a mild case of musical schizophrenia, would be to do schizophrenics a disservice. Musically, this covers so much ground, from indie styled shoegaze, to jangly discordant punk, to serrated post hardcore Shellac and Drive Like Jehu bile filled, spidery riffs, through to full on blast beaten grindcore all served up on a plate full of impenetrable, droning sludge, that takes hold of your ears and kicks you through the lungs. Its desperately impressive how many genres of music the band have managed to cover. There’s even Killing Joke, Phantom Limb Management/Godflesh esq, mechanised industrial influences at play here, that add further ingredients to the already groaning table of sounds, layers, motifs, and feelings that make up ‘Coagulated Bliss’. For want of a better comparison it feels like The Dillinger Escape Plan, Scour and Arms Like Snakes covering Glassjaw and Repulsion songs. If that sounds like a reach, you’re right, this album covers so much ground, it’s discombobulating, and there are times when you simply must wonder, is this the same band playing these songs, as one tracks morphs into another before emerging as something almost completely different from what proceeded it.
Full Of Hell have always been lauded for their experimentation, their refusal to countenance conformity from a singular musical touchpoint and for putting two fingers up at the typical conventions and strictures of certain genres and have simply pilfered the best parts of various styles and created something wholly unique. Challenging…yes, as you simply cannot take a moment to let your attention to wander whilst you live this album. For the uninitiated, this may prove to be impenetrable, too dense, too varied, disparate, and unfocused, but surely that’s the point? If you want run of the mill, vanilla and safe, go listen to Creed..OR…if you want something that will spin you on your heels, give you a Chinese burn and stick and pencil in your arse, then ‘Coagulated Bliss’ is the album to help. The fact that the album ends with a collaboration with Converge’s Jacob Bannon that segues from a mid-paced dirty, slimy guitar riff that then has the temerity to then segue into a haunting saxophone outro, is the juicy juxtapositioned cherry on top of the cake and is the clearest signal that Full Of Hell give absolutely zero fucks about genre conventions and are in this for themselves. And for that, they should be commended.
(8.5/10 Nick Griffiths)
Leave a Reply