Review: Full of Hell Throws Curveballs on Coagulated Bliss
Full of Hell has become a bit of a household name for fans of extreme music who lean toward fast, noisy, and chaotic. While generally referred to as grindcore, these guys have traversed everything from melodic death metal and sludge to harsh noise and power violence. While their collaborations with the likes of experimentalists The Body, death sludgers Primitive Man, shoegazers Nothing, and even Japanoise legend Merzbow can get pretty wild, their studio albums are fairly consistent. Within their form of inhuman vocals, obliterating percussion, and vicious guitars, Full of Hell’s interest in harsh textures, tempo shifts and atmosphere gives them more wiggle room than most grind acts. At least, it allowed the noise rock leanings of 2021’s Garden of Burning Apparitions to translate naturally. But on Coagulated Bliss, Full of Hell throws even more curveballs.
I mean, why not start things off with a screamo/grind mashup? The brittle syncopation of “Half Life of Changelings” sync up nicely with Full of Hell’s signature blast-beating, tremolo picking, and Nazgul shrieks, like their version of Heroin or Saetia. After only a minute to soak this in, “Doors to Mental Agony” comes through with math rock interludes and stomping two steps to show just how much they’ll do before coming full circle back to grind. What’s more important is how Full of Hell still wants to write solid songs instead of try-hard genre mashing. This is what should always happen when a band “branches out.” Keeping the core of their appeal while feeding it through different contexts.
In the case of “Transmuting Chemical Burns,” Guitarist Spencer Hazard shows that he can write riffs for hardcore kids tearing it up at Sound and Fury. It’s primitive, but not stupid—as he links with drummer Dave Bland’s chaotic beat switches. As the hardcore gets punk on the title track, the band shows a lot of control in their ferocity. It’s not easy to write what’s essentially a rock n roll song while keeping things just dissonant and grating, but that’s essentially what they did here. This might be the closest thing to a sing-along Full of Hell will ever come through with, showing that they can shed the death metal without sacrificing brazen power.
The real headscratcher comes in the form of “Fractured Bonds to Mecca,” a demented take on new wave with oscillated drum loops and clatterings. Hazard inexplicably dishes out some of the most animalistic riffs on the album in this odd environment, but the funnier part because how Dylan Walker can incorporate his insane voice into seemingly any genre. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Full of Hell album without a droning sludger like “Bleeding Horizon,” but this particular instance of slow motion would have benefited from cutting to the chase with that solid riff at the end. The 5 minutes of repeating the same simplistic strains, while suitably hypnotic, could have used more forward motion to justify six minutes.
Like most grindcore acts, the bulk of Coagulated Bliss sticks to Full of Hell’s penchant for short attacks. Walker flexes his immense vocal range on “Vomiting Glass,” as Hazard divulges in mad-scientist riff-mongering to follow the helter-skelter song structures. It’s here where Bland’s drumming starts to divert into Full of Hell’s powerviolence roots, with tempos so fluid that a venture like “Gasping Dust” can bring so much diversity into just over a minute. There’s even some shreddy guitar work mixed in the wall-of-sound blasts and disjointed mathcore.
Speaking of guitar work, “Schizoid Rupture” doesn’t hide behind sheer intensity thanks to some surprisingly infectious, almost noodly licks to match the almost jazzy percussion embellishments. It still has its share of barbaric punk grooves, but it’s very clear that Full of Hell set out to present something with a bit of flash in its bash. “Vacuous Dose,” for instance brings in a frenetic three-count structure to its cyclings of violence and acrobatics. Also of note is how Walker essentially uses his voice as a layer of noise at the protracted finish of the song. His screams might actually be the most consistent thing on the album.
Even when “Gelding of Men” molds into a hellish take on later-period Black Flag with its atonal guitar stabs and plodding drums, Walker finds a footing for his glass-gargling diatribes. This actually allows songs like this to get far away from the Full of Hell status quo without losing that impenetrable edge. In the same way, the album can stall to a close with the Eyehategod-ish pilgrimage “Malformed Ligature.” It might end with a lone saxophone, but the song’s central riff actually sets it up nicely with its smokey fret-work. It’s all Full of Hell, but never quite the Full of Hell expected.
Considering the fact these guys have put out over 30 releases in 15 years, the fact Full of Hell still has potent messages to deliver says a lot about their work ethic and their artistic chops. Coagulated Bliss gives a lot of bang for its buck, packing an impressive amount of unique experiences in a compact, lethal dose.
Thief’s Bleed, Memory is out now via Closed Casket Activities.
