From the peat-swathed bogs of Éire comes Carving The Causeway To The Otherworld, the second full-length from Irish blackened-death metal provocateurs Coscradh. Standing as an unholy odyssey that feels like it was birthed in the reclaimed tales from the fire and blood of ancient battlefields, the band’s sophomore effort, released on 20 Buck Spin Records, channels mythic heritage and patriotic fury into an extreme metal crucible where history and folklore blur into one.
Coscradh’s conceptual core for this record is the pure definition of epic, a chronicle of druidic causeways built by war-torn tribes, highways that carried the weary and determined, stretching out toward the realms beyond life. And from that seed they have cultivated a soundscape that is completely enticing…oh, and unapologetically feral!! Guitars flare and burn as if meteoric, drums clatter and crash like hooves over dead earth, and savage vocals howl with ritualistic intensity. The result is a sound that feels like it was designed to raise long-dead ancestors from their mossy graves.
The record opens with tension and menace, an ominous soundscape of creaking wood and mysticism but it quickly dissolves into a discordant tumult that grips the listener like a vice as it slowly stomps its way into being.
As Carving The Causeway To The Otherworld kicks in, the vocals gurgle and grate like the first beings of the universe to rise from the primordial gloop….it’s quite something to behold! And that’s before the pace picks up and the blast beats clatter you round the head….they clearly know when to unleash hell!
There are also moments that crank up the guitar wankery to a level that, in lesser hands, could become comical. Case in point – Caesar’s Revelation (Hibernia L. VI V. XIV ad XVI et XXIV); a song so full of virtuoso guitar shredding that it could make Steve Vai jealous! Meanwhile there’s an impeccable balance of jagged ferocity, unrelenting speed and cavernous grooves, that proves Coscradh can, with ease, navigate the fertile ground between black metal’s icy malevolence and death metal’s crushing force.
But, what truly distinguishes Carving The Causeway To The Otherworld from its peers is its atmospheric depth. Interludes like The Calling lend a ceremonial breath before the next onslaught, while sprawling tracks like Opening the Gates to Styx, Nix, Kerberos and Hydra unfold like apocalyptic rockslides…heavy, deliberate, and drenched in occult imagery. These towering peaks allow the moments of dread to deepen, sharpening the impact of the album’s harsher sections.
Carving The Causeway To The Otherworld is a fierce, immersive journey through legend, war, and Celtic history. For those willing to traverse its shadowed paths, the rewards are as immense as they are harrowing…once again proving that druids have all the fun!
Best Paired with – a pair of waders and a travelling cloak.
Reviewed by Bryn.
Coscradh – carving the causeway to the otherworld is out now on 20 buck spin.
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