PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Coma Divide are a new band from Germany. I’m not clear if the name was a deliberate reference to the album of the same name by Porcupine Tree, but it’s bound to cause confusion when trying to do internet searches for instance.
Coma Divine consists of singer Sonja Kraushofer, who is the former singer of the bands L’Âme Immortelle and Persephone, her former Persephone bandmate Martin Höfert on the Cello, Guitarist Ashley Dayour (from Whispers in the shadow), Franz Heinrich Lirsch on bass and Wolfgang Luckner on drums.
Inevitably the terms symphonic metal and gothic metal will be mentioned in reviews, even though I dont think either genre is an accurate description for them. Coma Divine are heavier than many female fronted bands with less emphasis on gentle symphonic or gothic music and more emphasis on good metal music, great tunes and at the same time keeping the great female vocals. Having said that they do show that they are more than capable of including slower more delicate sections into their songs.
Comments on a few of the songs..
“Burn sister” is the first track on the album, and is my bet for the first single to be released from the album. It a superb track and starts off with pounding drums a solid wall of sound from the guitar and a rocking chorus, before slowing down for the middle part of the song and then speeding up and increasing the power again but this time with a more classical feel rather than the emphasis on the guitars early on.
“About a girl” is one of the songs that tells a story – about a girl who hates the colour Yellow. Its well constructed and works very well.
“Dead end” is the last song on the album and is well over 8 minutes long. One of the stand out features for me is the excellent guitar work particularly in the last couple of minutes of the song.
Coma Divine may be a small new band, but judging by this album then it’s not going to be long before they are very well known. This is an excellent album and deserves to win them a lot of new fans. Hopefully it won’t be too long before they tour Europe and the UK in particular.
“Dead end circle” is released across Europe on August 29th (August 26th in Germany) on Oblivion records.
Rating 9/10
Track listing:
01 Burn, Sister
02 Rotten World
03 The Odd One Out
04 I Remember
05 From Time To Time
06 Praise The Fallen
07 Reason To Live
08 Secret Lover
09 Fast Lane
10 About A Girl
11 Dead End
