UMUR
"IV.I.VIII" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US, Indianapolis, Indiana based extreme metal act Coffinworm. The album was released through Profound Lore Records in March 2014. It´s been a couple of years since the release of "When All Became None (2010)", but the band have released a couple of minor releases in the time between the two full-length releases. The lineup is the same as the one who recorded the debut album.
Stylistically Coffinworm continues the crushingly heavy extreme metal style of the debut on "IV.I.VIII". It´s filthy, it´s dark, it´s fiercely aggressive, it´s doomy/sludgy, it´s blackened, and it´s quite atmospheric too. The vocals are sneering, distorted, and raspy, but there are occasional growling vocals on the album too, which also provide the music with a touch of death metal. So it´s not an album that´s easy to tag as it takes it´s influences from many extreme metal sub genres. While it certainly is crushingly heavy and doomy a lot of the time, there are also faster parts and even blast beat parts on the album too.
"IV.I.VIII" is well produced and features a more compact sound than the debut did. I think I prefer the sound production on "When All Became None (2010)" to this one, but that´s probably an aquired taste. The musicianship are solid throughout, and the material are generally well written and effective.
"When All Became None (2010)" is an album that has been on steady rotation at my house since it was released, and to my ears it´s a really great album by Coffinworm deserving a lot of praise. I can´t quite say that "IV.I.VIII" has had the same impact on me as it´s predecessor did, but it´s still a high quality release by Coffinworm and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.