FULL OF HELL – Coagulated Bliss

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7.0

• Bands:
  FULL OF HELL
• Duration: 00:25:15
• Available from: 04/26/2024
• Label:

• Closed Casket Activities

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The world of certain metallic and nervous hardcore has always oscillated between the opulence of chaos and the beauty hidden in the darkest shades. In this context, Full Of Hell have long represented an almost elusive entity, capable of pushing the boundaries of their sound both with uncompromising ferocity and with an eager desire to shuffle the cards and draw from other sonic worlds. A clear example of this is the now numerous collaborations with artists of the caliber of Merzbow, The Body, Primitive Man or Nothing.
It is therefore no surprise that with the new album, “Coagulated Bliss”, the quartet from Maryland has decided to challenge some expectations again, exploring partly new sound territories, at least as regards their solo repertoire.
The album, released following the collaboration with Nothing, at times tries to approach a less frenetic and slightly more harmonious style, opting for rounder sounds and some fleeting moments of stasis which further broaden the range of action by the Americans. It’s all presented as an attempt to get closer to a more traditional song form, yet the idea that Full Of Hell have completely abandoned their characteristic abrasiveness is only partially true. “Coagulated Bliss” still retains a lot of that visceral thrill and urgency that made the band a point of reference in the panorama of contemporary extreme metal, especially among younger listeners. If on the one hand we can clearly identify moments in which the group allows itself a break from its uncontainable fury to explore more structured and nuanced territories, on the other hand it is clear that a good portion of the tracklist is still occupied by very fast and essential, in which we don’t go much beyond yet another reworking of the usual formulas based on intensity and primitive anger. Certain episodes of this cut seem to all intents and purposes conceived only to act as a bridge between the more refined ones, in which Full Of Hell, combining the hardcore/grind substrate with the usual AmRep noise elements and some emotional suggestions clearly borrowed from the experience with Nothing, show their versatility, experimenting with darker and more melancholic atmospheres, while maintaining a core of inextinguishable ferocity. Alongside short outbursts now without infamy or praise, we therefore find episodes where the hardcore vein becomes more elaborate, evoking Converge, as well as an industrial martiality (“Fractured Bonds to Mecca”, “Gelding of Men”) and a decadent streak which finds its maximum outlet in the long “Bleeding Horizon”.
While the band therefore seems to have already said everything it had to say regarding pure aggression, points of interest remain when the desire to explore new formulas emerges, in order to distance itself from that urgency at any cost which now struggles to surprise, even because it’s not always supported by great riffs. This does not mean that the group has completely lost its bite, but today it seems more necessary than ever to acquire a new dimension, an even deeper awareness of its ability to evolve.
“Coagulated Bliss” presents signs of an organic evolution for Full Of Hell, showing a group always eager to explore new horizons without ever losing sight of their identity. The search for new forms of expression and meaning, however, is counterbalanced by a handful of tracks where not much is done to emerge, with the result that some enthusiasm ends up being dampened sooner than expected.
Beyond everything, each new work by Full Of Hell always deserves a careful listen. There’s often something compelling about the way the band manages to transform chaos into enchantment, shape brutality into beauty (see the ending of “Malformed Ligature”). With each new work, the band seems to pull some new cards from their deck, so the interest in their next moves remains quite high, which will certainly not take long to materialize.