C.O.F.F.I.N “Children of Finland Fighting in Norway” 2020. Legless Records “recycled mish mash blue” vinyl variant. Hard and furious punk/metal garage rock from Sydney, Australia. Their Discogs bio says “psychotic skate punk & pub thrash band” – this, too, checks. We caught C.O.F.F.I.N in 2022 when they opened for Amyl and the Sniffers at Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago. Great pairing (and weird venue)! Both influenced by 70’s hard rock, most especially Motörhead, but C.O.F.F.I.N feels heavier, more brutal than Amyl. Possibly because the lead singer is also the drummer.

Children of Finland Fighting in Norway (sort of self-titled) is the band’s fifth LP since forming in 2005. My top picks are the wild “People and Their Stories,” the album opener “Fast Love,”  the speed-metal/punk “Dead Land,” the somewhat exotic and fully punk “Headland,” and the all-out, balls to the wall speed metal on crack “Average Death.” They do slow down occasionally: “Ransack Blues” is down n’ dirty garage blues, with growl and swagger, but it’s like they can’t help themselves and midway through the track the tempo double-times and morphs into metal punk that would make Lemmy proud.