A few things you should know about Coffinberry:

1. The band’s name is taken from a historic Cleveland figure. I can’t tell you who Mr. Coffinberry was, or what he did, but his name is on a street, park, and school in the western suburb of Fairview Park.
2. Though the band formed in 2002, God Dam Dogs is the band’s first full length release.
3. God Dam Dogs rocks hard.

Admittedly, it’s a bit strange to see a band take five years to produce their first full length CD when we’re used to bands going from blogs to buzz to bargain bin in the course of a year. It’s not that Coffinberry didn’t record during that period, the band managed to generate some local buzz when they released the seven song ep, From Now On Now, in 2005. Two years later, however, they barely resemble the band that brought the sound of skinny tie NYC rock to the shores of Lake Erie. Sure, singer Nicholas Cross still sounds as if he eats gravel with his Grape Nuts in the morning and his brother, drummer Anthony Cross, still punishes his drum kit with a sense of vengeance. Yet those guitars that were once slinkly and fashionable on From Now On Now, have been replaced by rough, sludgy riffs, and that soundtrack for a high-speed night out on the town is now an ode to sledgehammers, cement blocks and broken backs. The band is more mature, more confident, more rocking, and most importantly, no longer sounding like anyone else but Coffinberry.

[Guest contributor Bill Lipold writes at I Rock Cleveland.]

Coffinberry – Official Site
Coffinberry – MySpace Site
Morphius Records – Coffinberry