If it’s sludgy doom you’re after, have I got a pick for you. No doubt, you’ve met South Carolina heavyweights COFFIN TORTURE in these pages or on our podcast before. The Westminster duo of Jim McMillan (aka Blind Samson) and Patrick Alex Thorfinn have been gigging for a solid decade now, last summer releasing the proof by way of a monster compilation of their three EPs and singles called, ‘Slithering Through Your Dreams’ (2017). The big news that brings them back to these pages, however, is their first full-on full-length, ‘Dismal Planet’ (2018).

As the name implies, this LP is dank, dirty, and really delivers on the dismal. From the opening moments of “Bull Of Minos” to the closing moments of “Trench Hog,” Coffin Torture seize control of your mind and heart, offering up a pulse-pounding beat, harsh vox, and some devilish riff-making. Thorfinn and Blind Sampson know their death-doom, alright, and present us with seven tracks that go straight for the jugular. A fuzzy, toxic sheen accompanies us throughout the record, which amp worshippers will go ape for.

It’s worth noting that the colorful album art is the doing Coffin Torture’s Thorfinn, who is a talented artist in more than just the real of music. In past years, he has contributed a number of his pieces to accompany the dark poetry of Lara Noel’s dark poetry series for Doomed & Stoned.

Look for Dismal Planet to release this Friday, February 16th, via Sludgelord Records. You can pick it up in digital or CD formats here or here. Whenever we can, we try to give you an advance listen, so for the next 36 hours or so, you can get your fill of Coffin Torture right here, right now, on our bitchin’ lil blog!

An Interview with Coffin Torture’s Blind Sampson

By Shawn Gibson

You have a new record coming out?

Yeah, we recorded 'Dismal Planet’ down at the Jam Room with Jay Matheson and Phillip Cope of Kylesa.

Yeah? Wow!

It’s awesome man! It was really an experience! The reason we went down there, we were going to be recording with Jay, and Phillip was there. Jay had been working for like a month straight, recording every single day! He said, “You know what guys? I want to get Phillip in here and record the second guitar track and the vocals. Is that cool with you guys?”

Um, yeah.

Absolutely! (laughs) It was surreal, it really was.

I’ve seen Kylesa in Savannah. My god, they put on a hell of a show! Kylesa, Wet Socks, and Bag Lady at The Wormhole, bad-ass show!

I bet that was awesome! Phillip’s got a new band called Oakskin. They have a really cool psychedelic sound like that of Kylesa, mixed in with a bunch of different stuff.

So where are you at, upstate South Carolina?

We’re both from Westminster, SC. It’s right in the corner, Oconee County. We grew up on the state line in between Georgia and South Carolina. I’m actually from Toccoa, Georgia, right across the state line. We both went to West Oak High School in Westminster, about an hour and thirty minutes from Greenville.

I’ve got a pretty good idea where that is. Is it snowing there?

No, not right now. There getting snow where you guys are, I think.

Yeah we got three or four inches in Savannah GA! It’s crazy! Wow! I got some family in Brunswick.

Yep, further south. You guys never get snow! (laughs)

Parts of northern Florida got snow, man!

That’s wild! Yeah!

We are all doomed when it’s snowing in Florida! (laughs)

It might be!

Who else is in the band with you and what do they’re doing Coffin Torture? You play drums, right?

I do. It’s just me and Alex Thorfinn on guitar. It’s just guitar and drums. Alex does vocals.

Well, you guys have some heavy ass music.

Thanks, man, thanks! We’ve had two bass players in the past, our friends Jeremy Bishop and Dustin Holiday played with us. They were really good bass players. When we play live it’s kinda a loose feeling. We might do one riff as twice as long, then the next time do it as half as long. Being on drums, it frees you up to do a lot more jamming, you know if you want to extend a part out. We’ve been playing together since 2005, not as Coffin Torture, but that’s when we started playing music together. We’ve got to where we can jam pretty well together on the fly.

You guys have something there: chemistry. To be able to do that, especially on stage, just riff and go to town and switch it up a bit, keeps it fresh!

Sometimes it’s unintentional, sometimes by mistake, but we’ll do something different. I might say, “Hey, you, remember what we did last time? Well, let’s do that every time.” Being only two people in the band it’s easy to make changes like that.

That’s great that happens spontaneously and takes both of you guys for a ride.

When it happens live, in front of people it adds like an extra level of excitement. You’re already nervous playing in front of people, but when something like that happens, it’s cool. It makes it like, almost like a Grateful Dead kinda mind set, you know?

They would jam and riff forever. One song almost turns into 'Dopesmoker.’ (laughs)

Yeah, we don’t get that extreme with it. Sometimes when we practice, we’ll play for three hours just jamming on something seeing what happens ya know.

So what are some influences for both of you guys?

Well, shared influences would definitely be bands like Neurosis, Weedeater, Buzzov-en, Sourvein, obvious sludge influences. A lot of funeral doom, bands like Ahab Tyranny, Catacombs. I lean more towards stuff like Pentagram, Saint Vitus, and older stuff. The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan, you know Earthride, all that kind of stuff. Alex, he’s more into extreme, like more death metal. He likes Disma and Coffins.

Yeah, I lean that way myself – really heavy, really hard stuff. I do appreciate bands like Beyond Belief, Trouble, Pentagram, definitely.

Together, we’re into stuff like Type O Negative, Queens Of The Stone Age, Butthole Surfers.

I Love Butthole Surfers! “I Saw An X Ray Of A Girl Passing Gas” is one of my favorites. That and 'Kuntz.”

Oh, yeah! (laughs). Off of ’ Locust Abortion Technician.’

They re-released it!

I saw that! I got that album when I was thirteen and it warped me forever! I got into more strange stuff, I guess. I’m into Sisters Of Mercy, hardcore punk, some of the less heavy stuff. Alex is more into the straight up heaviest stuff around, that’s what he likes.

You guys balance each other. (laughs)

I’ll try and put something in that’s maybe a little too out there and he’ll reign in there, “Let’s keep it heavy!“ Sometimes I get ideas and I go off into the stratosphere. We have all these influences, with a shared vision. What we’re looking for is something as heavy as we can make it but still mixing it up as well.

That’s good having some range and depth to it. Mixing in progression and keeping it fresh for both of you as well as your listeners.

Man, we try our best!

I want to talk about the “Web of Piss” cover of Iron Monkey’s song, from your recent compilation, ‘Slithering Through Your Dreams.’ That thing is slow and low, man! Iron Monkey does “Web of Piss” as mid-tempo sludge, but you guys slowed it down and made it damn near death-doom metal and it’s heavy as shit.

Thanks man! (laughs) We recorded that, I guess around 2012 when we did that for the 'Cave Dweller’ EP. We would play that riff for fun ya know .We recorded that actually in my parent’s basement, the whole EP. We were like, “Let’s just record it!” We did and I think I actually laid down the vocals for that and we did it in one go, pretty much. We listened to the song a hundred times previous to that anyway so we pretty much had it down. We just jammed it out and put the vocals over it. We did a cover of “Tales Of Brave Ulysses” by Cream. We also did a cover of “Bedroom Thang,” stuff to have fun with. Thanks, glad you like it! Iron Monkey rules!

It’s amazing, after all these years, they just released '9-13’ on Relapse in October. I’d like to ask Billy if he can ask Relapse if we could get an interview with Iron Monkey for Doomed and Stoned.

That would be awesome!

What!? You bet your ass!

It’d be hard to do. I know back in the day they didn’t do a bunch of interviews. They might do it now, you never know.

There’re newer bands out I like. Spectral Voice, have you heard of them?

No, I haven’t heard of them yet.

They’ve been around awhile; they had their debut 'Eroded Corridors of Unbeing’ out on Dark Descent last year. I think you’ll dig em. They’re death-doom.

Yeah man, I’ll check em out. I love that stuff like Cyanide, Disma, and Coffins.

I love Disma’s sound!

You ever listen to any Cyanide?

I’ve read reviews and interviews about them but haven’t really listened to the music yet.

Check out an album they did in the late '80s, early ‘90s. It’s called, ‘The Dying Truth.’ That album influenced us both a lot – them and Coffins’ 'Mortuary in Darkness.’ I think that that album shaped how we founded, starting off more than any other.

Have you heard of Father Befouled?

Oh yeah! It’s the same guys from Encoffination. They’re really, really heavy!

Incantation worship!

Even the logo looks like it a little bit. I don’t listen to that stuff as much as I used to. I guess I wouldn’t say the lighter side of it, but the groovier side of it.

With that being said, what are some SC/NC doom/sludge bands that you like and or have played with?

Oh man, there’s a ton of ‘em! If we start with the upstate, man: Waft, Tar Hag, and friends in Black Hand Thrown, Legba. Legba is on the Doom Charts.

I’ve sent some questions to Todd from Legba for an interview.

Cool! Todd’s a really good guy. I used to play keyboards in Legba on their first self-titled album. They’re great and they got a really good sound. Then you’ve got Fall Of An Empire. They kinda remind me of Sasquatch, that kinda sound; good vocals, really good band. If you go down to Charleston you got Hooded Eagle and Tripping The Mechanism, they’re really good sludge band. Hooded Eagle is more a black metal/funeral doom kinda band. Then you got around Florence, you got Heathen Bastard, they’re awesome; them and Thieving Coyote. Thieving Coyote kinda remind me of Clutch, but way heavier; they’re a good band. Compel from Florence, two-man band. We were going to play a show with them at Gottrocks in Greenville. It’s been a couple years back. I think Joe or Tim got sick and couldn’t make it. I hate we missed playing with them, it was a good show. In North Carolina, you got Temptation’s Wings.

I know those guys! I’ve been to their shows in Asheville at The Get Down, now The Odditorium. Hail Cronk! They were on my show at least three times.

Yeah, really nice guys. We played with them actually in Greenville at the Radio Room. It’s been awhile back. In Asheville you got Broad River Nightmare.

Bobby Lamar Seay!

He’s a nice guy, man!

He really is. It’s some crazy music.

I’ll see him when we go to the Mothlight, I’ve seen him at the Orange Peel a few times. The only show we played out of state, we played at The Odditorium.

I love that place.

Yeah, that place is cool. I’ve wanted to play there for a long time, but we never had the chance. Bobby set up that show, it was Pallor. They were really heavy, it was just bass and drums. You got Horseflesh up there, there really good.

Jaime Ward, yeah.

I saw them open up from Weedeater. I saw them at The Mothlight. They opened up another show, I think it was Big Business. It’s all kinda rusty.

I did see Big Business played in Asheville and I missed it! I know one of the local bands opened for them, just can’t remember.

It was Power Takeoff. Man, that was awesome. If you haven’t checked them out, Power Takeoff from Concord, NC. I mean loud. We got to play with Jucifer a few times at Ground Zero. We opened for up for ‘em, too. I don’t know Power Takeoff might be louder! (laughs) It was crazy loud.

Nice!

There’s so many bands man. That’s as many as I can think of right now, off hand.

It’s all good.

We’ve got a lot of good grindcore, power violence, and thrash.

Awesome, well-rounded scene.

Yeah, man. Upstate SC, we’ve got this band WVRM – those guys, they are awesome. They just recorded with Kurt from Converge. They did a single or it might have been an EP with him. They toured with The Grind Mother, Funeral Chic, The Drip. You heard of The Drip on Relapse?

I’ve heard of them, but I haven’t heard their music yet.

They toured with them and, actually, Waft was on the tour, as well.

Nice lineup.

If something doesn’t happen with that band, I’ll be surprised. They’re really awesome! There’s a lot going on right now, a lot of house shows. There’s a place in Columbia, SC, called the Sludge Gutter that’s really cool, like a house venue. They get a lot of shows.

That’s great. I need to get my ass out to a show!

Man, did you catch West End Motel? They played The Jinx, in Savannah.

Oh, man. No.

I thought about driving down for that, when it was their CD release show. I kinda like that. I like Brent Hinds, Fiends Without a Face, West End Motel. Tell you the truth, I like that stuff more than the newer Mastodon stuff, but I still like it, its great music. I’m more into like, 'Remission,’ 'Leviathan,’ 'Blood Mountain.’

Yes. I got to see Mastodon live at the Orange Peel in Asheville, sold-out show with Dillinger Escape Plan and Red Fang in 2011. The entire crowd was singing along to every Mastodon song, I’ll never forget it. After the show we got on the tour bus with Brent, Trey, his wife, and their son.

Oh, wow, that’s cool. I was talking to a friend of mine on Facebook; he was at that show too! I found a Mastodon tour poster and it has that Orange Peel show on it!

Damn!

It’s actually signed by those dudes. I found it in Seneca for like thirty dollars.

What!

A friend of mine, he’s got that same poster. I asked him if he was at that Orange Peel show. Mastodon’s awesome, man! You know what I’ve been trying to track down? I actually have two copies of Troy’s old band Knuckle, back before he was in Four Hour Fogger. I’ve got to copies of 'Sixteen Penny Nails.’ I think it was the only Knuckle album. I’ve got one Four Hour Fogger seven-inch, the one that’s got the cow on the cover. It’s got “Road to Tibor” and “Marsha’s Birthday” on it.

Holy shit!

I cannot find ‘Dollars for Red Books.’ That’s the only full length album Four Hour Fogger did. They might have done another one, but I don’t know. I know a lot of people that have it.

Yeah, nobody willing to part with it.

Yeah, man, I’d even settle for a burned copy of it.

At least.

The only place you can listen to that album, on YouTube, a guy named Sir Runt uploaded like six tracks off it and it’s got like twelve or thirteen tracks on the album. That’s the only place you can listen to that album! You can’t download it anywhere!

Damn, man.

I know man, I actually talked to Gary Lindsey, the singer from Four Hour Fogger. He did vocals for Hank III, Assjack – you heard of that band?

Oh, yeah.

I actually messaged him on Facebook. I was like, “Man, do you have a copy of that? Is there any way I can get one?” He said, “No, man. They’re out of print. You just got to get lucky and find one!” The search continues! I found two copies of Knuckle and I bought both of ‘em! I’ve been looking online. There’s no Knuckle on YouTube. You can’t hear what it sounds like. I gotta at least like upload a track or something, so if someone wants to hear it. I don’t know how that works. I don’t want to do it without their permission.

Right.

I just wanted to hear it. It’s really cool, too!

I bet!

It’s kinda like Alice In Chains, maybe a little more sludgy.

Cool. What’s a damn good book you’ve read?

I’m reading 'Contract Killer’ right now. It’s the autobiography of Donald “Tony The Greek” Frankos, a mafia hit man. He was Greek, so he couldn’t be “made” into the mafia, you have to be 100 % Italian. He did hits for like almost all the families, the five major families. According to the book, he was in on the Jimmy Hoffa murder.

What!?

Yeah, I just got to that chapter. I’m just reading that now. He said that Tony Cilano “Fat Tony” ordered the hit on Hoffa. You know, Hoffa was big in the Teamsters, so they had all this stuff happen, so they had to get rid of him. They had to make him disappear forever and that’s one of the most mysterious mob murders ever. Nobody knows exactly what happened. I’ve read some stuff online that they say now, “Tony The Greek, that that was bull-crap, what he said. He wasn’t there.” Some people say he was there and he was in on the whole thing, you know, it’s one of those mysteries. I’ve been reading The Misfits biography, ‘This Music Leaves Stains.’ It’s really good. Also, ‘Let’s Go to Hell: Scattered Memories of the Butthole Surfers.’

I definitely need to get that. I wouldn’t put it down, ‘till it was done. Gibby Haynes is nuts! You’ve heard of him, right?

(laughs) Yeah, he and Al Jourgensen stayed actually lived with Timothy Leary. You’ve heard of Timothy Leary?

Oh, yeah. The acid guru from the '60s.

They lived with him!

Makes sense for a lot of their music!

I can’t remember exactly for sure it’s been awhile since I read, it’s not in that book. I saw a documentary about it. That biography is all over the place. It skips around – now you’re at this point, then it skips ahead, then you’re here.You gotta read it from beginning to end, you can’t skip around with it. It’s crazy! It talks about when they started out, they would go on never-ending tours. They would just go and ping-pong from coast to coast. They would actually take half hits of acid to stay awake, take like small doses.

They’d stay dosed for months.

It’s crazy! Then it talks about the legendary show at Danceteria in New York that people say it was the craziest Butthole Surfers show ever, They say that Gibby and Kathleen had sex on stage – they say. At the end of the show they found out they were only getting half their money. Paul Leary started destroying speakers with a screwdriver, stabbing holes in the speakers with a screwdriver. They say they were all high on acid, the whole band. They started dosing the crowd! It’s one of those shows that like if everybody was there that said they were there, there would be like a thousand people at that show. “Oh, I saw them at Danceteria!” Really, there would be like forty people.

Exactly – at the most.

The book gets sad towards the end. I never thought about it, you know. The Butthole Surfers broke through with 'Electriclarryland,’ become a big band. They were on Lollapalooza. They were scheduled to do a tour with Motley Crue, believe it or not.

That is crazy to think about.

Yeah, it fell through, thankfully. Towards the end, they sued Corey from Touch and Go Records, because the handshake agreement when they first got on Touch and Go was 50/50 agreement. As the years rolled on and became a big band, the sale of their back catalog exploded. Everybody wanted as much as they could get. Corey was getting 50% of all that and he wasn’t being forthcoming with the money, so they decided to sue him. What happens when they decide to sue him, the whole underground turned on the Butthole Surfers. Never mind that the Butthole Surfers toured and lived in a van for all these years, just barely surviving. Everybody was like, “Oh they’ve gone corporate,” even though they didn’t.

I say that’s fighting for what’s yours.

Yeah, that’s what it was about, but it was like this big band was attacking this small label. I had no idea any of that happened, I just learned about it reading this book. It was nuts! They recorded the album, ‘After The Astronaut.’ Long story short, it got bastardized and turned into their worst album which is 'Weird Revolution.’ Have you heard that one?

No, I haven’t.

It’s got that song “The Shame of Life,” like their dance song. It was like a club hit. It’s got an electric drum beat. ‘After The Astronaut’ is supposed to be one of their best albums, but it got remixed and stopped by the label and turned into ‘Weird Revolution.’

Pretty much after 'Independent Worm Saloon’ I got off that ride.

You don’t like 'Electriclarryland’?

I do, I had it on CD. I thought it was amazing because I thought, man these guys “made it,” finally. The Butthole Surfers are a big influence on me, the whole psychedelic thing turned me on at the time.

Oh man, the Butthole Surfers and Scratch Acid, a lot of those bands from back then I can get into, the Jesus Lizard.

What’s something that makes you laugh uncontrollably?

A lot of stuff! Thinking about one time – Alex and I fish a lot, there’s a lot of lakes and ponds where we live. I was at this pond and fishing with him and Alex was on the other side and I was over here and all of a sudden, this beautiful girl came down. It was like out of a movie. Of course, her boyfriend walked out of the woods behind her. He was walking to the pond too. We thought it was going to be like one of those, “Dear Penthouse” letters.

They’re going to start going at it. What the hell?

In our weird teenage minds, that’s what we thought, I guess. Obviously nothing like that would happen in a million years. So anyway, my tackle box was at the top of the bank. I had it up there and I caught on something and I was pulling my line and I snapped my line. It was right then the couple walked out of the woods and we saw em and we were like, “This is the hottest girl that’s ever been here!” We freaked out a little bit, then I turned around and I was walking up the hill and I got caught up on an ivy vine and bam! Face-first right into the bank and just rolled back down it.

Damn! (laughs)

I look over, the girl was laughing and Alex was laughing at me. Anytime I need a good laugh, I think of that! (laughs)

I have had several instances like that.

It’s always more embarrassing when a girl’s there. Always.