Coffins

Japanese death metal trio Coffins originated in 1996 following both a name alteration and a personnel adjustment. The musicians had started out as Compromise You Need, drawing initial inspiration from Swans and Scorn, before adopting the Coffins designation that same year and staging their debut performance under the revised identity in December 1997. During this period Uchino handled drums while also contributing guitar and vocals; the following year the group enlisted You on drums, allowing Uchino to assume frontman duties. Also in 1999 the band began steering its sound toward doom metal under the influence of Cathedral and Kyuss. Because each member maintained commitments to additional projects, Coffins entered a hiatus in 2000. The musicians reconvened in 2003, finalized their transition to death metal, and added Sentou on bass. Razorback issued the trio’s debut full-length, Mortuary in Darkness, in 2005; that December Sentou departed over musical differences. Koreeda joined on bass one month afterward and participated in the September 2006 release of the second album, The Other Side of Blasphemy. Two years later the group delivered Buried Death via the 20 Buck Spin label.