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Coroner sound like thrash metal from a higher consciousness. Musically, they have everything needed to be lumped in with the genre: gravelly vocals, chug-a-lug riffs, and drumming that could outpace a Bugatti Veyron. But, there’s an unpretentious intelligence about the Swiss trio, and their long-awaited new album Dissonance Theory, that pulls them from the pack.
Coroner formed in Zürich in 1983, after their original lineup served as roadies for countrymen Celtic Frost. Clearly, that stint made its mark, as like Tom G. Warrior and co., they quickly grew bored of genre constraints. Their second and third albums, Punishment For Decadence and No More Color, took thrash and gave it its PhD, incorporating plenty of prog and jazz-fusion abandon. Their swansong for 32 years was 1993’s Grin: an avant-garde industrial/groove thing that was so ahead of its time the band split up due to lack of commercial success.
Dissonance Theory retreats from the extremes of the last album we heard from Coroner. However, in their late 50s and early 60s, they still sound fresher than a lot of the new blood injecting themselves into the scene. They simultaneously have their fingers on the pulse of the modern world and couldn’t give a fuck about trends, as telegraphed by opener proper Consequence.
The track, about the pitfalls of A.I. usage, interrupts its own thunder-hoofed verses with cascading chords, a shockingly catchy chorus and moody segues. A band like Metallica have used all these things individually over the last 40 years. Yet, the way Coroner pack them so tightly together without making it all veer off-course… it’s kind of miraculous.
Dissonance Theory is crammed with songs such as this, which push and pull without ruining their momentum or making the band sound as lofty as Dream Theater or Tool. The Law has you going one way, believing it’ll be a groovy headbanger with another earworm refrain, but then the second half ignites with the quickest Testament riff that Testament never wrote. Crisium Bound is the opposite: a thrasher to start with, it breaks down with a post-metallic bridge before building back up to a nosehair-singeing solo.
Coroner’s comeback album is like watching a molecular physicist beat the shit out of everyone in the pit. It’s smart, absolutely, but at the same time it’s not hoity-toity about it. Like every other thrash band on the planet, this lot want to scream in your face and smash you about – it’s just they have a scientific understanding of how to make it land extra hard.
Dissonance Theory is out now via Century Media.