26/09/25
Melbourne dark metal/horror metal outfit Coffin Carousel will drop their fifth studio album, Quantum Chainsaw Part: Three Six Nine, on September 26, 2025, and if past efforts are anything to go by, then we are in for a treat! The band have promised more of the same with some interesting additions, including HM2 Chainsaw guitar tones, and who doesn’t like a bit of chainsaw action with their metal?
First track They Live In Shadows screeches at you long and loud as deathly growls fill the air before drummer Baron Todd smashes into gear, and we are off. There’s already a shit tonne going on here, but the most obvious point is that it is all LOUD.
There’s a bit of Wednesday 13 style horror going on here musically, but much heavier and sludgier due to a massive bottom end that threatens to open up its own portal to hell. Vocalist (and guitarist) Howard Von Noise already has his work cut out for him, competing in a sonic barrage with an array of monstrosity that doesn’t sound like it is in the neighbourhood to make friends. A dash of electronics seeps through haphazardly, but for the most part this is an industrial metal-infused slab of violent intent that sets the bar pretty high for the remaining ten tracks.
Dead Cold fires up on the back of a tasty guitar lick that summons a massive drum intro, giving little respite from the carnage of the previous song. This one is more guitar-dominated, with mini solos layered over a chunky riff that menaces constantly in the foreground.
Subtle breakdowns momentarily suggest a change of intensity, but Coffin Carousel are just teasing as the wall of decadence once more descends and hangs thick in the air. It’s hard to say just what you would describe the sound as, so I figure I’m not going to bother. Who the fuck needs labels when the music is this good?
Fire In The Sky rumbles to life on the back of some moments of reverb before the drums and guitar resume hostilities as Von Noise lets out guttural screams of anger to introduce us to a more measured side of Coffin Carousel‘s musical psyche. When I say measured, I don’t mean softer by any means, but Fire In The Sky seems more deliberate in its approach, vocals rising and falling in time with the rhythmic drum patterns that border on tribal metal.
Guitars swirl as the chaos settles, and the seeds of discontent remain in an almost methodical approach that suggests this track could very well be an unholy call to arms. It probably isn’t, but that sounded too good not to mention…
Purest Gold arrives with more feedback before a brief spoken interlude ushers in a barrage of guitar and drums to create a sonic battlefield of energy and intent. Each instrument combines to perfection, creating dense layers of menacing inequity that is almost suffocating in its presence. The pace quickens mid-way through and threatens to veer into more thrash metal territory before Todd steadies the ship with a rapid fire bout of kicks that drags the song back from the depths of despair and into sludgier territory. Great track.
It Lives rings delicately in the distance as guitars swirl with an eerie intent that carries through to Von Noise, and once more the gates to hell open and drag you forth – willing or not. There is nothing subtle at all about this album from Coffin Carousel. From the outset, it is a bleakly disturbing ride into oblivion where resistance is futile and co-operation inevitable.
This song sees the first signs of a guitar solo, but a fleeting taste is all we are going to get, and you get the feeling that Coffin Carousel aren’t a band that care too much for personal adulation with things like solos. Their music relies more on a collaborative effort to create an all-encompassing wall of sound that seems impenetrable from all angles.
Sounds Of Madness allows some guitar reverb to ring through your ears for a brief stretch before Von Noise snaps us out of it with a barking tirade of venom that seems to be directed at an unknown adversary. To be honest, I haven’t understood a great deal of the vocals, but unusually, that isn’t a concern. Coffin Carousel instead paint a sonic journey whereby you just have to give over your ears and soul and allow them to carry you into an oblivion where specific sounds and expressions fade into nothingness when listened to as the sum of all parts rather than individual flashes of regularity.
Two Six Six Two begins with the cleanest sounding guitar on the album so far, but don’t let that fool you, as we are quickly whisked back into battle as Von Noise carries the burden of humanity on his shoulders and obligingly takes us along for the ride. This song is heavy as fuck and brutally awesome; a maelstrom of twisted apathy that gets inside your head and bounces menacingly from side to side until it finds a path by which to escape.
There is a more intense guitar solo on this song that we haven’t heard previously on this album, but it fades back into the fold long before becoming unwelcome and/or out of place. Instead, it retreats into the distance, replaced by a chuggy riff that forms the nucleus of Coffin Carousel‘s relentless assault.
Chainsaw Bat Sludge kicks off with a sludgy, industrial edge that soon degenerates into a seething ball of aggression that is kept in check only by a tempered bout of drumming from Todd. A quick guitar run breaks the status quo, dragging Chainsaw Bat Sludge back into the abyss from which this album finds its resting place.
This is an almost schizophrenic track that seems to be battling with itself for supremacy, but from a listener’s point of view it’s best to let them at it because it provides an interesting spectacle that doesn’t seem as dangerous from afar.
Return To Doom Kitchen is ushered in on the back of more feedback before a swirling mass of guitars slows things to almost a crawl that is manhandled by a menacing, almost spoken vocal passage that is both haunting and enticing at the same time. It’s as if someone has given the Lord of Hell his own megaphone with an open slather to wage his own personal assault on humanity on a battlefield borne of discontent. Sludgy and cool as fuck.
Dark Knights Rise has a much more welcoming opening passage, but of course, this doesn’t last as Von Noise once more intervenes and steers us down a dark tunnel with not even a spec of light or solace in the distance. If anything, Coffin Carousel are getting heavier the more this album goes on, but it isn’t heaviness for the sake of heaviness. It feels as though there is a story to be told here, although at this stage I’m not quite sure what that story is. Whatever it is, I’m sure there won’t be a happy ending.
Which brings us to the final song, The Death Bat. A rapid delivery of drums and kicks fills the void as Von Noise growls menacingly into the microphone, seemingly intent on ramming home the no-happy-ending thought I just had.
There’s a strange rhythmic grace to Coffin Carousel‘s music despite the unflinching aggression painted on the sonic canvas provided. It’s been a brutal ride, but by no means unpleasant, which isa testament to the craft and precision Coffin Carousel pour into their music. Now excuse me while I go and sit in an ice bath for a couple of hours to cool down…
