UMUR "The Fleshland" is the 4th full-length studio album by Japanese death metal act Coffins. The album was released through Relapse Records in July 2013. Coffins formed in 1996 and while four full-length studio albums released in a 17 year period might sound like the band aren´t that active, nothing could be further from the truth, as they usually release several splits, singles and EPs between album releases.

Coffins is known for playing old school death metal and that´s exactly what they do here too. Mostly mid-paced with D-beat drumming but sometimes doomy and crushingly heavy (like on "The Colossal Hole"). The tracks are generally simple, brutal, and effective with predominantly unintelligible growling vocals. The sound production is raw, distorted, and powerful, but all instruments and vocals are for the most part clear in the mix. The few times the band speed up the music, the sound production becomes slightly murky though.

Listening to "The Fleshland" there´s no doubt Coffins can play their instruments. It´s not spectacular what they play, and especially the guitar solos sound a little uninspired and simple, but overall their playing abilities match the raw and simple death metal style that they practice. For the style the songwriting is on a good level, but a bit more variation within tracks or the addition of some details, could have made the album an overall more enjoyable listening experience. As it is "The Fleshland" is still a pretty great old school sounding death metal release and a 3 star (60%) rating is deserved.

J-Man Sporting a doom-styled brand of death metal that takes plenty of cues from acts like Autopsy and Asphyx, the Japanese collective known as Coffins is often regarded as one of the most pivotal acts in the country's underground metal scene. Their startlingly raw and dense sound has gathered enough attention from death metal fans to even gain a spot on the roster of Relapse Records for the release of their fourth full-length album, 2013's The Fleshland.

Unfortunately, the hype surrounding this band is a bit of a mystery to me after hearing The Fleshland - although the listener will be treated to a somewhat decent collection of crushing riffs here, this record often sounds like a rehash of ideas that have already been explored with better results. The murky production (which often makes deciphering the riffs quite challenging) and lack of dynamic contrast makes The Fleshland feel more like a half-finished effort than an engaging artistic statement. Fans of doom-influenced death metal may want to check out Coffins for themselves, but I don't find the compositions here strong enough to warrant much of a recommendation.