Having recently witnessed this east Tennessee band live and in the flesh on their home turf, it’s still amazing and somewhat surprising to know that the thunderous racket they create comes at the hands of mere trio. They put the ‘power’ in power trio, as it were.
Sadly, a band this industrious and dedicated to their craft – they have three prior full-length releases, run their own Red Witch imprint and have never scrimped one iota on sonic or visual art details – has found it a tough slog generating and sustaining a robust and consistent following proportional to their hard work. They’re not getting back what they’re putting in, as it were. And as much as I consider myself a fan and still enjoy throwing on previous album, 2011’s Howl and Filth and sitting with my head too close to the stereo speakers, I can see why Generation of Vipers’ hooks may not be sinking into the public meat in the same way bands of their ilk (Neurosis, Isis, Cult of Luna, etc.) have. And it’s pretty fucking criminal.
By nature, every genre and sub-genre of music is an acquired taste, with some being more limited in potential for broad appeal than others. This shouldn’t be news to anyone. The sludge/doom path Generation of Vipers have embarked upon is littered with loyal listeners on one end and all those folks who can’t distinguish the nuances and differences between the tectonic plate-shifting guitar tones and steamroller drums of Iron Monkey and –(16)- on the other. But that’s okay; who’s with me in not being able to tell one flamenco song from another? Here be the crossroads GoV is at: their sound is enormous, warm and familiar, with guitars rumbling along like the avalanche of an isolated log-cabin dweller’s worst nightmare. But despite all the awesome hurl and burl, there’s a lack of singularity. Killer tunes like “Dark Matter” and “Haunted” may be robust slabs of pitch-thick sludge metal, but ultimately don’t stand out nearly enough from influences and peers.
We all have that self-proclaimed expert/scene-ster friend who somehow has the time to obsessively listen to, document, study and collect every artefact by every band from a certain sub-genre; (s)he is the sort of dude(tte) who will excitedly point out where GoV differ from the pack. The broader majority of metal fan will shrug their shoulders with indifference or claim they can’t tell ‘em apart from that one song they heard on Liquid Metal that one time before dismissing it as not worth their time. So, what is our basement-dwelling, voracious student of doom-ology hearing that your average Hammerfall fan isn’t picking up on? For one, drummer B.J. Graves puts on a paradiddle (or whatever the fuck they’re called) clinic, jacking up the energy in the already crushing “Damaged Awake” with bombastic tom fills. He also provides a metronomic driving for “Dark Matter” and exhibits a militaristic flair in the mellow, backwoods feel of “You Deserve This.” Vocalist/guitarist Joshua Holt does a number on his throat and diaphragm while opening up the sullen mood to a punishing Lower East Side noise rock groove on “Stolen Voices” as well as some reverb-ed out psychedelic harshness on “Crawling on the Ceiling” and the title track when he’s not leading the troops through heaps of boisterous riffing not far removed from the sort of sonic lash-marks Through Silver in Blood still leaves on people’s nut-sacks and eardrums to this day.
Brass tacks: Coffin Wisdom is a sturdy display of where GoV is at. It’s a powerful statement that will speak to proponents of the doom/sludeg sub-genre and the band’s fanbase. And maybe that’s all good by them. Someone with broader tastes and an open mind looking to expand their taste and open their mind should find a great deal to latch on to here, even if the band is still seeking and struggling to lock down their own consistent voice.
7.5/10
