It’s an astonishing sixteen years since The Coffinshakers last clawed their way through the loose topsoil covering their dank abodes to release a record. Thankfully in 2023 they’ve come back from the dead again and, in the process, they’ve come up with something of a classic return.
If you’re unfamiliar with Rob Coffinshaker and company, then imagine a comedy-free Dave Vanian writing, for the most part in the style of Johnny Cash in his pomp and you’ll be on the right track. And if – quite rightly – that prospect starts your salivatory reflexes working overtime, then you’re going to have a whale of a time with the superbly-monikered Graves, Release Your Dead.The (black) magic here lies somewhere between Coffinshaker’s, erm, deadpan delivery and the twang-heavy guitar approach of six stringer Fang; On the gloriously morose closer The Great Silence the band come together to create supreme vampyric mayhem behind the pair as they weave a desolate tale of matters ethereal; it is quite literally hair raising stuff, a celebration of all things noir that you won’t hear done better anywhere for a long, long time.
The title track is a langorous slice of absinthe-fuelled slink, but the best moments come on the shadowy pop of The Sirens Call and that already-mentioned The Great Silence, where the use of that classic horror pop device – the out-of-body-female-wail – will send your kitschometer’s needles plummeting into the red in triumphant fashion.
City of The Dead is a clanking, rattleboned piece of darkened rockabilly built on rhythm section Andy Bones and Joe The Undertaker‘s glorious and very ‘folsom’ sound; Although there’s very clearly a big tongue-in-cheek ethos at play here, the superb authenticity of the musicianship lends the music an aura of real sophistication despite the knockabout nature of the subject matter and Coffinshaker’s irony-free delivery.
The Coffinshaker Express is heading straight to hell again, and it’s a ride you won’t want to miss!
Graves will Release Their Dead on September 15th…
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