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Coven 6669 > Boneless Christian > Reviews
Coven 6669 - Boneless Christian

I'll bring the Christian! - 90%

klun222, March 1st, 2016

Because this album is one of my favorites, I decided to review it.

Like a lot of other bands at that time, Coven 6669 started experimenting with style and decided to enrich the album with more advanced and more intense drumming. Boneless Christian is their third and in terms of sound quality and mix, their best-produced album. Although this album is well-recorded, vocals and drums seem to be a point on this album and they stand out. I like the way they implemented guitars which do not stand out that much but work more like background instruments for most of the time on this album.

The riffs on Boneless Christian may not all be original and memorable, but that is the album's only weakness. Most riffs on this record are middle, sometimes fast paced and most of them don't differ much one from another. Not all tracks follow the same pattern, perhaps one of the best and the first more advanced riff you will hear when listening to this album is an intro of Just Add Violence. I like the way how this intro riff starts at a slow pace, giving me a calm feeling and later surprises me with not evolving much when a song hits the verse. I find this song very ironic because it is not as aggressive as others, but the title of it is Just Add Violence. Bass is audible. Solo bass sections aren't uncommon. For me, the best solo bass section one is an intro of Boneless Christian. This intro is the fastest on the album and I particularly like how bass's riff remains the same when guitars and drums join in.

Things that make this album so interesting are vocals and lyrics. Boneless Christian features two vocalists, one of them is Jay Clark and the other one is Paul Hash. I am not exactly sure whose vocals on which tracks belong to who, but I am convinced Jay Clark's vocals were recorded on tracks 2 and 7. I like them both because they are both great singers, and they succeeded to make Boneless Christian less monotonous and a lot more interesting. Paul's vocal style is more punk-oriented and lower while Jay's is cleaner and higher. Lyric themes are anti-Christianity and violence. Lyrics are brutal and have been written with a good sense of humor. Album makes me feel like I am directly involved in action they describe and gives me an attitude of "I am a dirty psychopath, but fuck it". One of the best lines of lyrics are:

I wrapped her up in plastic
Threw her body in the trunk
Quite a major hassle for a 30 second fuck
Just then, the plastic parted
And her stiff blue thigh began to show
I had to do her one more time
Cause a dead girl can't say no.


Even through riffs aren't that great, Boneless Christian is still one of the best albums ever made. This album features short to medium length of the songs, drumming style that is more comparable to death metal rather than thrash metal and that's why the album is a mix of thrash metal, death metal, and punk. If you like Coven 6669, check out F.K.U. and Carnivore, they also feature some sick lyrics.

Are You Deaf?! - 65%

grain_silo, May 19th, 2012

After two awesome albums, Coven is back with “Boneless Christian”. This album is quite different than their previous efforts. This album lays on a perfect production job but lacks in the song writing department. With the exception of a few songs, this album is lacking quite a bit of the old Coven.

The production is one word, perfect. I don’t have a single complaint about the production. It sounds so unbelievably heavy without that overproduced. I would write more about it but there is nothing to say other than it is amazing.

The songs on the other hand, not so much. “Satanic as Hell”, is a great song from start to finish. The title and lyrics are so stupid and ridiculous that it kind of reminds me of the old Coven I love. This song has some awesome thrash parts that are also lacking on this album. “Fuckin a Nun” is the most over-the-top song with probably the most offensive lyrics I’ve ever read. This is another great song that reminds me of the good Coven. Honestly, those two songs are the best this album has to offer. “Boneless Christian” is another good one but that’s just the problem, it’s just “good”. There isn’t a song on here that stands out as amazing. “All This Bleeding” is an interesting song due to the sound clips they put in it. The music is average at best but it’s a decent song at best. “Just Add the Violence” is a short but thrashy song that doesn’t really leave any trace that it really exists. Most of the songs on here are just average. Only a few really leave a mark.

Some of the riffs on here are extremely good, such as the riff in “Christcycle/Reaming the Pope”. That being said, the riff is really good but not good enough to save the song from ultimate mediocrity. “Organic God” is completely forgettable. “The Master’s Tool” has some ridiculous lyrics but is pretty lame.

Overall, a mediocre album with a few standouts. This album has some of the old Coven but is a very average album. I would only recommend this album for the first two songs and the title track. I would recommend the first two Coven albums if you want some really unique power/thrash metal.

Best tracks – “Satanic as Hell”, “Fuckin a Nun”, and “Boneless Christian”.

Riffless Antichristian - 45%

autothrall, December 3rd, 2009

It was hard being a thrash band in 1993, unless your name was Metallica, or Sepultura, or Pantera. And yet, others were plodding along, including Coven of Washington, who released their third and final 'opus' Boneless Christian. It had been four years since Death Walks Behind You, and the time away had certainly made a few changes in the band's sound. You have a few different guitar players adding guitar solos here, some new members, and some of the songs were written by an outside contributor. The core of the band's sound remains: meaty thrash metal with sacrilegious and bordering on stupid lyrics. But there are quite a few subtle differences that made this album a letdown.

Let's talk about improvements though. The bass and drums on this album are a far cry better than the previous releases. The bass really pops along below the thick palm mutes, and the drums feel far more vibrant and punishing. Before it was the guitar and vocals that drove the band's compositions, the rhythm section was simply hanging along for the ride. Listen to the bass in "Christsycle/Reaming the Pope" to hear the change. No, on this album, it's actually the vocals that take the back seat.

Sure, they still have the tendency to infect when they start opening up, but I found most of patterns here kind of silly and dumb.They bounce around in abandon over a slew of busy if not so memorable guitar rhythms, and while an argument can be made that this is the band's most 'polished' studio effort, it's also very cheesy and feels like the well of Hell has finally dried up. I think the ridiculous "Fuckin' a Nun" has the only set of guitar rhythms here that I could get behind. Even when the band gets a little more thoughtful in the riffing, like the almost proggish thrash that starts to take shape in "Boneless Christian", I wasn't hooked. The vocals throughout most of the album are weak, aside from a few points at which they carry some of their earlier, Tom Araya influence.

Fed up with a diet of force-fed religion
With every problem, therein lies it's own solution
We could feed every Christian
To the hungry and the homeless
But before you do, you'd better
Make sure they're boneless!

By this point, devouring Christians and having sex with nuns were old hat. Death metal bands like Cannibal Corpse had arrived and spewed such sickening gore that the metal fanbase was quickly becoming desensitized. Bands like Coven, who once had the shock value to match their freakish riffing and vocals, sounded tame by comparison, and this album really falls flat. Where before the band maintained a crunchy, wild composure to their writing that hooked me for two albums, Boneless Christian very much feels like a phoned in failure to achieve a past glory. The musicianship is not all that bad, but there just aren't any songs here that I can sink my fangs into. Seriously, not a single song that I would ever want to replay.

Highlights: Nun?!? I meant none.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Satanic as hell?... - 66%

Danthrax_Nasty, September 3rd, 2005

Your first impressions of this album may be the same as mine:

"What the fuck is this?"

After some listening, and a little bit of looking into, here are my thoughts about what this is:

Released the same year, and by the same label as such timelessly classic Metal masterpieces as: The Dead Youth "Writhing", and El Duce "Slave To Thy Master", you have no choice, but to assume this isnt your average Heavy Metal record. Remarkably though, considering what this label was peddling at the time, this band was a pleasent surprise to myself. Cool solos, some decently produced guitars, and some humorous ideas propel this one to the fore front of mediocre, less than original under ground 90's Death Metal bands that used to be a thrash band?) that whent no where, and probably rightly so. Oddly enough though, in comparison to what was happening where these guys were (Seattle WA) in 1993, this really is a well done Metal album deserving of much praise.

As for the lyrics, they really are a good portion of what I like about this album. Sorta early Deicide meets late 80's GG Allin,...here are some random lines:

"Demons lined up one by one, to hose her down in flaming cum"

"Some Christians prefer to serve their ministries, I like to serve jesus hot off the rotisserie"

"I'm a cold blooded psychopath maniac, my favorite method of attack is shooting children in the back"

Just random funny stuff, highly amusing in my opinion. The only real problem with the album is that the vocals are pretty weak on some of the songs due to Hardcore esque vocals (which I just dont get into myself), but its not like the entire album is filled with said crap, just certain portions of certain songs. So, basically, the vocals are a bit all over as far as the whole album, but definitely check out the kickass vocal job on "Just add violence". Oh, and the last song has some really shitty vocals, but has some pretty cool sound clips about beheading, and such, put to the bands music, making it a fairly unique song, not that great really, but original enough.

Overall: a highly mediocre release, although I will give it to the band that they were able to come up with a funny fucking album (killer cover art too, btw), albeit leagues from being ground breaking, or genius, but still an enjoyable Metal album.

The album has a strong sound, capturing an early 90's feel with their Death / Thrash / Hardcore blend. Probably for fans of this era, but certainly not one for everybody. Its a decent addition to your collection, but searching for this seems absurd to me. Heres another one to pass by for most people.