RSS
Twitter
Facebook
"How does one describe the music of COALESCE? I think I read someplace that music journalist types were calling them “post hardcore”, whatever the fuck that is suppose to mean. Another place, I read someone saying that COALESCE were “too punk to be metal, too metal to be punk”. Whatever… If I had to place a tag on COALESCE so the uninitiated could put an idea about what the music sounds like in their heads, I guess that tag would be “devastating”. “So, Joker is COALESCE metal, hardcore, what?” My reply would be “They are devastating.” Haha! Perfect description! These guys drop nuclear breakdowns that can leave a room full of broken belongings, or bones depending on your choice of listening venues. The vocals of frontman SEAN INGRAM are a distinct tortured roar, the type that once you’ve heard them, you will recognize them instantly every other time you hear them. Thinking man’s lyrics keep it from being Death Metal and the music, often being like Math Metal covered in one ton of quick drying cement, is too varied to be simple hardcore. COALESCE is one of those bands that changed a genre, are often imitated, and never duplicated.After a decade of virtually no output, save for 2007’s limited edition two song “Salt and Passage” 7 inch vinyl, released by SECOND NATURE RECORDINGS, COALESCE regrouped for music’s sake to record “OX”, a full-length set to be released June 9th by RELAPSE RECORDS. I, for one, am so excited about this release that I have been on a COALESCE bender for the last two weeks! I have been spinning the band’s discography with reckless abandon and I’m sure my neighbors are starting to memorize some lyrics. My love for COALESCE is nothing new. I was first turned on to the band when I picked up the NAPALM DEATH/COALESCE split CD “In Tongues We Speak” back in 1997. I came for the NAPALM, but stayed for the COALESCE… it was unlike anything I had ever heard before. During my recent deployment to Iraq for my day job, COALESCE was with me as well. Released in 1999 on HYDRA HEAD, “Nothing New Under the Sun”, an album of strictly LED ZEPPLIN covers was in constant rotation on missions, in the motor pool, or while enjoying what time we did have to relax. I introduced a lot of soldiers to the album’s crushing interpretations of ZEP classics, and it became a large part in the soundtrack to our 15 months in “The Sandbox”. That being said, I am proud as fuck that the debut interview in this second incarnation of GOATS OF PANDEMONIUM is with a band that I often associate with one of the most intense, amazing, and heartbreaking periods of my life: I present to you my interview with SEAN INGRAM, the vocalist of COALESCE!
GOATS: “Ox” is set to drop on June 9th and is COALESCE’s first full length release in 10 years, I believe… what has been going on in the decade between releases?
1 comments