Concrete Realms of Pain

The bolshy masculinity of Danzig was considerably out of step with the march of history even by the early 90s. But now, thirty years on and presented with Caskets Open’s latest album ‘Concrete Realms of Pain’, blatant demonstrations of being a manly man look almost charming. Accepting we don’t want this review to become a discussion of the changing role of gender politics within metal, suffice to say that Caskets Open are smuggling a more complex tale of masculinity beneath this overtly macho mix of muscular doom metal, hardcore punk, and sludge metal. The presentation may be all muscles and leather, but even a cursory reading of the lyrics reveals a thoughtful, sincere, and reflective iteration of these tired tropes. Another welcome reappraisal of the terrain.

Enough of agendas, onto the music. Caskets Open attempt a more straightforward melding of hardcore punk and traditional doom metal with this LP. Presentation wise we are much closer to heavy rock music. Vocalist Timo Ketola has an undeniable Danzig twang to his singing voice to supplement the full throated punk style. The guitar tone is geared towards the no-nonsense ethos of their brew of influences. There are no gimmicks, no flashy effects, just plug in and go. This aesthetic extends to the drums which have a straight-from-the-practice-room quality to them. Clear and concise, but zero thrills or adornments.

Doom metal and punk have a rich and interesting history. However, a recurring problem – especially for sludge metal – is the volume of artists that have somehow make the worse of both worlds. The punk elements often end up diminishing the melodic potentials of doom, whilst the depressed tempos of the latter eviscerate punk’s primal energy. Caskets Open take a more measured approach. The variant of doom most audible on Concrete Realms of Pain is neither the loose blues approach of peak era Danzig nor the abrasive sludge of Acid Bath or Corrosion of Conformity.

Instead they reach back to an overtly heavy metal flavour in their riffing in a similar way to Magic Circle; part Witchfinder General, part Pentagram, part Saint Vitus. The rampant nostalgia of this format is tempered somewhat by the raw energy of the music that extends well into the slower numbers such as ‘Four Shrines’ and ‘White Animal’. There is still a sense of purpose and forward motion as these tracks build to a finale. Of course, these are broken up by moments of sheer chaos. But all elements are finely balanced, no riff or vibe is dwelt on past its shelf life. All makes for a clean and streamlined rendering of this back-to-basics style, proving that the DIY aesthetic can still carry within it musical nuances found in original composition and riffcraft, but also emotional nuances, chiefly found in the lyrics that reach far deeper than the superficially dated aesthetic implied by the cover art.

Originally published at Hate Meditations

The Finnish trio are really starting to become an entity of their own with their fourth album. While But You Rule, their 2010 debut album lacked most of the punk elements of their later efforts, their followups explored those areas in more details. Concrete Realms of Pain, their debut on Poland’s Nine Records (known for releasing quality doom such as Acolytes of Moros, Mansion or Lucifer’s Fall) shows the band moving forward in both experience and songwriting chops. The main element that I always found displeasing in their albums is the inability to truly make a cohesive album while still incorporating the plethora of elements they want to include. I do believe this fourth full length is more successful at achieving that particular balance of sounds but it's still bothering me.

Ah yes, to give some context as to what the band plays... Imagine a long table where Glenn Danzig meets up with Albert Witchfinder who’s obviously tired of talking about trad doom and the newly revived corpse of Peter Steele who’s hiding a copy of his Playgirl issue to remember the good old times. At the other side of the table, Chandler argues with both Wino and Reagers about what Vitus era was the best. There’s also a bunch of punks in the parking lot drinking beer and not caring about the meeting.

Compared to their debut or To Serve the Collapse, the traditional doom elements are downplayed here. The opener “Four Shrines” almost cleanses the whole album from slow doom once its six minutes duration is done but there’s some other slower moments such as the first half of “White Animal”. It’s a good and bad way to start the album as it doesn’t exactly shows us the way the whole album will treat us. While still first and foremost a doom band, the whole thing is faster and streamlined for the most part. It also has the best production of their career, it’s as muscular as the bloke on the artwork.

This is how you do a tough guy album to be honest. Riffs solid as bricks, a booming unhinged bass and fast, thundering drums. No useless posturing, breakdowns or unnecessary elements, just balls of steel on the wall of the dungeon/gym. Speaking of manly, the vocals of Ketola are gruff and with the right amount of venomous might to bridge the chasm between doom and punk, mixing Danzig and trad Finn doom. Caskets Open aren’t a subtle band at all, voluntarily on the nose is their main objective and it works fine.

Overall, this is an enjoyable slab of beefy doom/punk but once again, the lack of cohesiveness and the tendency to want to do too much blurs the results. Sometimes, it’s better to focus on making one thing extremely well. I tried a mac and cheese pizza the other day and while I love both on their own, it wasn’t a resounding success mixed together.

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