Artist: Coma
Title: Excess
Type: Album
Label: Mystic Productions
It doesn’t bother me when the editors of this esteemed site ask me to review an act I’ve never heard of before, so when I was assigned to lend an ear to ‘Excess’ by Coma, I didn’t have a problem. When it arrived, and I saw it was from Mystic Productions, a label that has put out what is without a doubt in my list of albums of the year so far, ‘Bourbon River Bank’ by Corruption, I was in fact really looking forward to it. A look at the band’s blurb makes it sound like they are really high flyers in the Polish rock scene, their last album shifting over 50,000 copies in their home land, and winning numerous awards, whilst their biography claimed influences such as Led Zeppelin. All to the good in my book, and time to pop on the headphones and listen.
With that build up, the opening track made me check the CD again, just to make sure the wrong album hadn’t been put in the sleeve, but nope, the swirling cover matched the print on the CD. Why then did the opening track have music that sounded like it was lifted from The Orb’s ambient classic ‘Little Fluffy Clouds’ (yep, I have heard of non metal bands folks) I even stopped the track, jumped to the computer, and confirmed what I thought. For some reason at the start, with the slight distortion and electronic sound the track did sound very much like a chill-out dance track until about two thirds of the way through when the real instruments kicked in, not in a particularly metal way either, unless you consider the likes of Muse a dangerous alternative band that is!
The shorter punchier follow up track, ‘Transfusion’ had a far more real, less overproduced sound, and a nu-metallic sound to the guitar riffs, stripped back and without the electronic distortion of album opener ‘Excess’. ‘Poisonous Plants’ followed, and the drum machine opening again made me wonder if I was about to get another dose of ambience, before the track grew into some more anthemic modern rock. This is the pattern that dominated the whole album, with nods to ‘Jeremy’ era Pearl Jam in the enormously titled ‘Witnesses of the Decline of the Eternal Boys Land’ and the eleven minute epic ‘Eckhart.’ This pomp and pose was a massive contrast to the punky opening attack of bonus track ‘Fuck The Police’; sadly not the Sodom classic, but still a refreshing change after the sometimes overblown album proper.
This album is apparently an English re-recording of a Polish original, and as an attempt to crack the market in a language that is not their own, the band are to be admired. However, it really is not a metal album, despite the occasional nod to the likes of Linkin Park. It is far more likely to appeal to fans of Placebo, or heaven forbid, Coldplay. Okay, the latter act may fill stadiums, but they’re not what I’d play, and not the normal fodder of Metalteam.
http://www.coma.art.pl
http://www.myspace.com/comarockpl
