Full of Hell - Coagulated Bliss (Album Review)

Photo: Zachary Jones

Full of Hell are a restless creative force. Across more than 30 releases — including five LPs — the Maryland noisemakers’ pulverising approach to grindcore has continued to expand and warp. With their sixth album ‘Coagulated Bliss’, they further cement their status as modern extreme music legends.

Brian Montuori's baffling, psychedelic cover art gives some indication of the hellish chaos that waits inside. Opener Half Life of Changelings screeches through 71 seconds of abject fury, vocalist Dylan Walker moving with ease from shrieks to cavernous guttural roars. There’s very little let up after that but, crucially, it’s never tiring. 

The song lengths are, as ever, taut. Most of them barely hit the two minute mark, but Full of Hell are also wise enough to know when to pull back and let their sludgy tendencies shine.

Fractured Bonds to Mecca indulges in slow punishment, folding in noise and electronics, its slow programmed beat closing under undulating feedback. 

The title track offers crust-flecked savagery, while Bleeding Horizon sprawls and revels in droning guitars. Throughout it all there’s more structure than ever before, with recognisable motifs and even choruses beamed in through their unique lens of D-beat, grindcore and harsh noise. 

Where previous albums were freight trains of anxiety, ‘Coagulated Bliss’ reflects the mundane horrors of small town America. The effect is one that’s leaner, tightly focused and somehow heavier as squalls of frantic guitar collide against inhuman howls, blistering drumming and an ever-present air of moroseness.

‘Coagulated Bliss’, then, represents the rapid evolution Full of Hell have undergone over the past 13 years, honing their songcraft to a keen edge. That scalpel dissects the stifling inertia of everyday life and contorts it into terrifying shapes. The end result is 25 minutes of razor-sharp grind that leaves one question: where do they go next?

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