{"id":829350,"date":"2026-07-27T14:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T14:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/829350\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T14:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T14:37:10","slug":"coffin-hunters-cosmic-dawn-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/829350\/","title":{"rendered":"Coffin Hunters – Cosmic Dawn Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I love album art you can hear<\/a>, and fittingly, Coffin Hunters\u2019 Cosmic Dawn churns with a groovy, psychedelic fusion of hard rock and heavy metal that spills off the cover. Plus, how can I resist a sassy reaper rooted in a strawberry-lemonade backdrop featuring a gateway to an alternate dimension? Cosmic Dawn is Coffin Hunters\u2019 third album in under a decade, and on their previous LPs the Los Angeles foursome dispensed reliable earworms with a rockin\u2019 retro swagger. On Cosmic Dawn, the crew adds a healthy dollop of synth into their formula and dips their toes into acid rock waters. With a new twist on Coffin Hunters\u2019 recipe, is this the Cosmic Dawn of a triumphant new era?<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s clear that influences play a pivotal role in Coffin Hunters\u2019 sound, it\u2019s just as clear that the band works to establish an identity all their own. Debut The Fire Knight leaned heavily into throwback, traditional heavy metal and saw Coffin Hunters embracing bass-forward boogies and monster grooves that conjure the likes of Saxon<\/a>, Jag Panzer<\/a>, and Iron Maiden<\/a>. Follow-up Wake the Dead shed the raw edges of The Fire Knight and adopted slicker riffs and a more polished production, even adding touches of southern flair recalling Molly Hatchet and some punchy bassmanship that reminds me of Mike Dirnt\u2019s 90s Green Day contributions. On Cosmic Dawn, Coffin Hunters push their boundaries even further, fusing the synth stylings of The Doors and Uriah Heep into their collective personality and capping it with Floydian psychedelia. The sum total is an intriguing melting pot that incorporates seemingly disparate ingredients into a surprisingly cohesive dish.<\/p>\n

\ufeffCosmic Dawn by Coffin Hunters<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the last decade, Coffin Hunters has retained their core contributors while exploring ever-expanding shades of hard rock and heavy metal. Other than replacing original drummer Jorge Guzman in 2020 with Brennan Kunkel, Coffin Hunters boasts remarkable lineup stability, and you can hear the effortless give and take during their well-crafted arrangements. Guitarist Eric Harriman\u2019s fuzzy crunch strums and swirls around Brian Crites\u2019 bass, which punctuates compositions with often understated yet always alluring performances, particularly on \u201cSkeleton Key\u201d and the title track. Keyboards round out Cosmic Dawn\u2019s instrumentation, making an indelible mark as they imbue each song with hooks embedded so deeply and central to the album\u2019s character (\u201cIsle of the Dead\u201d) that I marvel how Coffin Hunters wrote two albums without them. Vocalist Sean Rivera delivers a solid performance as well, guiding listeners through the album\u2019s eight tracks with his steady croon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Although Coffin Hunters nails most songwriting elements on Cosmic Dawn, evaluating the album in its entirety reveals a few cracks. Foremost is the lack of songwriting dynamics, as pacing and tempo consistency keep Cosmic Dawn\u2019s forty-three minutes within too narrow a band and inhibit Coffin Hunters\u2019 adventurousness. To be fair, \u201cLast Nail in the Coffin\u201d supplies an early downshift in pacing; however, it\u2019s not enough to combat the uniformity that permeates the rest of the album. Even though most songs radiate head-bobbing energy on their own, strung together they too easily pass by in a pleasantly tame blur. Injecting a show-stopping moment or two that stretches the even-keeled energy into peaks and valleys would go a long way towards reinforcing Cosmic Dawn\u2019s impact. Also, while Rivera\u2019s vocals serve the music well enough, they tend to be a bit one-note and lack the bite of earlier albums. Exploring other styles, resurrecting The Fire Knight\u2019s vocal grit, or bringing in a guest vocalist for a song or two would further aid Coffin Hunters in tackling Cosmic Dawn\u2019s homogeneity.<\/p>\n

In the end, Coffin Hunters winningly conjures the echoes of earlier generations. Their commitment to bringing the past into the present reminds me of what I love about Lynx\u2019s Trinity of Suns<\/a> and, to a lesser extent, Chalice<\/a> and Owl\u2019s releases from earlier this year. Unfortunately, Cosmic Dawn sticks too closely to its core sound over its runtime, leeching memorability through the back half. Even so, Coffin Hunters wholehearted embrace of keyboards is cause for celebration, as they add delightfully retro textures and cement a gnarly identity for the band. With a stronger emphasis on songwriting and performance diversity their next time around, Coffin Hunters might just strike gold.<\/p>\n

Rating: Good
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Bitter End Records
Websites: Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Instagram<\/a>
Releases Worldwide: July 17th, 2026<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:\n<\/p>\n