Coffin Lids

Oh great Lord of Distortion I lay myself before thee and offer up a tribute to your fuzzed out glory, and that of your Son, Coffin Lids, which you have made flesh for our salvation. Together we pray...

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A record as obtusely titled as Rock'n'Roll better be as close to that concept as it can be, and to their credit Coffin Lids deliver on this feedback drenched gem. The Boston based garage rock band is clearly drawing from deeper roots than most of those bands following the current garage movement. All the press I've read regarding this album compares them to 60s garage pioneers The Sonics and "budget rock" kings The Mummies, but such namedropping really is appropriate in this case. Coffin Lids are purposely keeping their sound as basic as possible and churning some classic (read: pure) sounding rock songs as a result.

Buried under all the low-fi feedback is some really competent song writing and (despite the band's talk about sounding primitive), some of the more satisfying guitar soloing I've heard this year, particularly on the album closing "Smokin' Monkey." For the most part there's nothing deep about songs like "Nite Of The Zombies" or "Beer & Rock'n'Roll," but in this style it's neither needed or wanted. Coffin Lids have included a few covers as well: The Chantays surf standard "Pipeline" (which bands must be required by law to cover) and The Mummies' "She Lied." Of course when the focus is on fuzzed out rock and roll the volume level and tempo of the record are anything but dynamic, so it's not hard to see some finding this a bit tedious so sit through in it's entirely.

Coffin Lids succeed because their distorted "recorded in a tin can with a cheap tape recorder" sound doesn't come off like a gimmick. It's more an aspect of the style and tradition they're continuing and for that reason it's used without a shed of irony.