Who knew a band started by a group of schoolmates on Sydney’s Northern Beaches over two decades ago would still have the same hunger they had when they started? There is a line by AC/DC, “It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock ’n’ roll,” and I feel that line sums up C.O.F.F.I.N pretty well.
The band has been relentlessly making music, touring and doing anything that makes sure rock and roll does not die. Their most recent album Out In Oslo debuted at No.1 on the ARIA Australian Albums Chart, which is a huge achievement for a band that has been doing this for as long as they have.
But we at Sound Under always say never judge art based on numbers or charts, and C.O.F.F.I.N are a big example of that. They might not have the biggest numbers on social media, but the talent is undeniable. When it comes to rock and roll and Australian pub rock, I would easily have AC/DC and C.O.F.F.I.N as my top two. And although they have always been incredible, I genuinely feel their sixth album is their best work so far.
It has everything I want from this kind of music. The production is brilliant, the riffs are heavy, there are catchy, almost anthem-like hooks throughout, but what really makes Out In Oslo work for me is the versatility. Produced by Declan Mehrtens, the album sounds bigger than some of their previous work without losing the rawness that makes C.O.F.F.I.N what they are. There are moments that sound exactly like the band you came here for and then others, especially around the middle of the record, where they go somewhere I wasn’t really expecting them to go.
They have also released a feature-length documentary, “10,000 Miles From Oslo”, which goes through the history of the band and gives the album even more context.
Watching these guys go from starting a band as kids to still touring and making some of their best music more than two decades later makes you appreciate what it actually takes to keep something like this going. Shout out to Jake Laderman, Scott Marrinan and everyone involved in making the documentary as good as it is.
Lyrically, there is quite a lot happening across the album, and I don’t think you necessarily notice all of it on the first listen because the music itself is so immediate. You can easily put this album on, enjoy the riffs and hooks and leave it there, but underneath that you have songs dealing with distance, violence, relationships, injustice, belonging and people trying to look after each other when the world around them isn’t making that particularly easy.
The title track is a good example of that. “Out In Oslo” has missiles flying overhead, bloodshed, panic and this idea of how we react to suffering when it is happening somewhere away from us.
That continues through songs like “Sleep In It”, which looks at love and dedication, while “Think Bad” feels like someone’s mind going in ten different directions at once, thinking about health, money, emergency contacts and how to get their life back. “A Place To Stay” is much simpler in what it is asking for, with someone basically needing somewhere to get through the night. There is a lot of uncertainty running through these songs, but also this idea of relying on other people when things start falling apart.
And then you get to “13 Days”, which for me is the biggest surprise on the entire album and probably my favourite song here.
C.O.F.F.I.N going acoustic wasn’t something I expected to hear, but it works incredibly well. The song was written around two friends who were facing potential jail time and were given thirteen days to organise and fund their defence, and there is something about telling that story acoustically that makes it hit differently. Rather than exploding through the frustration, they let it sit there.
The brilliance of “13 Days” isn’t just in the lyrics either, it is the overall composition. The acoustic guitar, Ben’s delivery and the way the song gradually develops give it this haunting feeling that I haven’t really heard from C.O.F.F.I.N before.
The repetition of “thirteen days” starts to feel like a countdown as the song continues.
I also love where they have sequenced it. After four songs where the album has already established its energy, everything suddenly slows down and you are forced to sit with this story for a few minutes. Then “Won’t Let You Down” brings the electricity back and somehow feels even bigger because of what came before it. That kind of sequencing is something I don’t think gets talked about enough with albums. Sometimes where a song sits can completely change how you hear it, and I don’t think “13 Days” would have affected me in quite the same way if it was just sitting towards the end of the record.
More than anything, that song represents what I like about Out In Oslo. We already know C.O.F.F.I.N can make incredible rock and roll. We know they can write massive riffs, play loud and make the sort of music that probably makes even more sense when you are packed into a room watching them perform it. What I didn’t necessarily know was that they could strip almost all of that away and still sound completely convincing.
The second half moves back towards the heavier C.O.F.F.I.N we know, but by the time “Miles Away” closes the album, distance has appeared in so many different ways that the song feels like a fitting place to finish. The album starts out in Oslo, travels through relationships, violence, friendship, needing somewhere to stay and trying to get somewhere else, and eventually ends with someone wondering whether they still call Australia home while being miles away from it.
For a band that started in Manly and has spent so much of its life touring around the world, I think there is something quite beautiful about ending there. Whether every part of that song is autobiographical doesn’t really matter, because by this point the idea of distance has become part of the album anyway.
I think one of the hardest things for a band that has been around for more than two decades is figuring out how to grow without losing what made people care about them in the first place. You can change everything and lose your identity, or you can keep making variations of the same album because you know it works. Out In Oslo manages to sit somewhere in between.
It still has everything I associate with C.O.F.F.I.N, but there are enough moments where they stretch that sound to make me wonder where else they could take it. More than twenty years into making music, that curiosity is probably more impressive to me than the No.1 next to their name.
C.O.F.F.I.N are a band that reminds me every time I listen to them why I loved rock and roll in the first place, and Out In Oslo cements their place as one of the greatest rock and roll bands to have come out of this part of the world.