Mysteries from the conjoined spiritus of wilding 80’s heavy metal abundancies are revealed and worshipped in glowing hindsight as Kolbotn, Norway-based thrashing heavy/doom metal trio Coffin Storm muse upon personal origin and classicist craftsmanship as inspiration for this morbid and outrageous debut full-length album. A meld of stylized tics and various evil heavy metal tributaries rather than a juxtaposition of solidified formae, the style of ‘Arcana Rising‘ makes for an curious initial point of conversation yet it is how they’d craft authentic mannerism and memorable action from those old fonts which generates great value. This idiosyncratic and dare I say genuinely ‘underground’ feeling heavy metal record proves itself in knowing chunks of horror, magick and malice as if a tome levitated from forgotten archives and expertly restored.

Coffin Storm formed circa 2021 wherein thee Apollyon (Aura Noir) and Bestial Tormentor (Infernö) who’d both played in long dormant traditional doom metal throwback Lamented Souls since the early 90’s began reprising some of that ancient chemistry through regular jam sessions ’til the shape of songs began to call for a vocalist. Their first choice was Fenriz (Darkthrone) and he was on board bringing his haunted heavy metal vocals, best observed on Isengard‘s demos, with the intent to embody something like the spirit of early Agent Steel. The olden-doomed alchemy of their foundry would inevitably land upon the spirit of the late 80’s doom-and-thrash metal adjacency, not exactly the heavier jog of Candlemass‘ ‘Ancient Dreams‘ (see also: Memento Mori‘s ‘Rhymes of Lunacy‘) but a style one might observe in irregular phenomena via demo only bands of the late 80’s (Damnations Pride, Deathmass, et al.) and underground mutant classics such as ‘Turn Back Trilobyte‘ and ‘Journey Into Mystery‘ or even Confessor‘s ‘Uncontrolled‘ tape. What makes ‘Arcana Rising‘ a notable release off the jump is how well the essence of late 80’s underground heavy metal mastery is conveyed through style and production values, both of which reflect a time when none could deny the global infestation of thrash metal was reaching its peaking saturation of damned near everything.

What does it say about an artist’s muscle memory that their attempt at ‘Epicus Doomicus Metallicus‘ style doom organically ends up being a mid-paced, kinda Mercyful Fate pumped power-thrash metal album? Only great things, actually. The roots of extreme metal were built upon this sort of admixture of forms, a lotus which might scale into an intense dynamic bloom moment-to-moment but ultimately retains its classic heavy metal shape so, one could expect nothing less when these particular folks peer back in time and work up something old-but-new; Coffin Storm offer less a flitting between extremes on this debut so much as their sound purports a natural fusion of down-stroked slow thrashing riffs and theatrically stated vocals all of which seem to have been sourced from folks who were on the same page without hesitation for a result which first and foremost has riffs to back up the big personality (opener “Over Frozen Moors” hits a biggun as soon as you hit the play button) summoned before them. This is the more typical menacing riff and distraught vocal performance one can expect throughout the majority of the six ~7 minute long chunks of song which comprise ‘Arcana Rising‘, each of them patiently arriving upon their tuneful exaggerations with a theatric quality applied to their steady-jogging gait.

Every piece here counts without a flop or a true redundancy in sight though the flow is irregular to start as the title track (“Arcana Rising”) is apparently adapted from a piece written years ago befitting of the tone and style of this album, it certainly feels less directed by thrash and instead dodges into an almost psychedelic doom-tinged sensation whereas the rest of the album tends toward a more immediate stabbing motion to its rhythms. The piece which’d won me over and secured some quick fealty upon preview was undoubtedly “Open the Gallows” with its proper chorus, run-on chunking rhythms and spiderwebbed leads all of which are necessary to sell this notion of heavy/doom metal in the age of, I dunno, ‘South of Heaven‘. At least that’d been the observation to catch on in mind quick as I approached “Eighty-Five and Seven Miles” (and the in-the-pocket bulk of Side B in general) with its main riff calling upon some of Coffin Storm‘s most sinister tri-tonal escalations alongside riffcraft which makes the connection between Slayer played at the wrong speed, earliest Cathedral, and the ‘Run to the Light‘-era Trouble riff progression which finishes the thought most profoundly around ~5:03 minutes per its second reprise.

We could cut these songs up into generalized pieces in this sense all day long but this result should feel natural for those indoctrinated into the greater 80’s evil heavy metal zeitgeist by their own experience, or, additionally by way of Darkthrone‘s last several epic heavy metal incensed releases. While the more cursory spectrum of overly specialized extreme metal fans may not potentially “get” the exaggerative style of Fenriz‘ vocals they are very much in line with the ‘personality over status quo technique’ effect enjoyed by most of heavy metals best, in this case some light effects and a few messily harmonized choruses carry a certain early Scandinavian doom metal feeling to the bone. While I’d ultimately concede that the cadence of the riffs and the ancient sounding production values carry this album into is reasonable authenticity all moving parts are required for its droning and wailing sinister gloom to hit at all, even if that includes bass guitar performances which take more of a backseat than expected. All it all comes together into one glom for each seven or so minute chapter ‘Arcana Rising‘ should interest the traditional doom and epic heavy metal fandom first, likely the classic thrasher second, and perhaps the first wave black metal aficionado for its sinister presence and the musicians respective projects elsewhere. Otherwise the appeal should be simple enough for fans of slow (but not that slow), dramatic (but not too serious) and impure heavy metal. A high recommendation.

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