The first time I heard of the band Coilguns was in April 2012 when they played an amazing live set in one of Edinburgh’s smallest and sweatiest venues. Unfortunately I wasn’t at that gig, but the fact that most of my metal-minded Edinburgh friends were talking about it for weeks afterwards made me buy their EP Stadia Rods, which was released last year on the local underground metal label Dead Dead Dead Music. Now they are releasing their debut full-length album Commuters on Pelagic Records.
Coilguns originates from La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland and is guitarist Jona Nido, drummer Luc Hess and vocalist/”crowd fighter” Louis Jucker, all three also known from playing in The Ocean. Their music can best be described as structured chaotic metal/mathcore.
What is the most impressive feat of Commuters is that every song was recorded in just one live take. The only overdubs or edits done were the vocals. The fact that Coilguns only plays with one guitarist, whereas in some parts it feels like you’re listening to 4 or 5 guitarists all playing at the same time, makes this amazingly impressive. Now, in some parts actual more guitarists were involved in the live recording process (on tracks ‘Commuters Part 2’, ‘Blunderbuss Committee’ and ‘Earthians’), but in general Coilguns makes clever use of various guitar and bass loops which build up and up during most songs, creating layer upon layer and new musical bits to explore with every listen. This results in a complex album where so many things are going on at the same time, that even after a couple of listens you keep on finding more guitar riffs, another drum fill, another rhythm and so on.
Commuters opens with the track ‘Commuters Part 1’, which continues where previous EP Stadia Rods finished, throwing a complex mixture of loud guitars, thundering drums, growling vocals and lots of different time signatures at the listener. The first impression is brilliant and it wants me to forget about everything happening around me so I can listen to the rest uninterruptedly.
The next track ‘Commuters Part 2’ is probably my favourite track of the album. It is a near 12 minutes long epos and from the first second it is instantly clear we’re in for a long climatic build-up. It is a great showcase for singer Jucker’s vocal range and capabilities as the biggest part of the track is almost one fast spoken word session ending in a climatic couple of growling and grunting minutes. Musically it is a beautiful build-up with the clever use of the aforementioned guitar and bass loops all accompanied by drummer Hess’ steady and increasingly heavy pounding drums. This track triggers a lot of emotions in me and by the end of it I’m simultaneously playing the air guitar whilst hitting imaginary drums and grunting like a maniac.
The rest of the album continues in the line of the first track with ear-blistering and complex metal/mathcore. Other highlights are the short tracks ‘Plug-In Citizens’ and ‘Submarine Warfare Anthem’, the longer track ‘Minkowski Manhattan Distance’ (featuring guest vocals by Keijo Niinima), and the slightly slower and sludgier album-closing track ‘Earthians’. Actually, this whole album consists of highlights in my opinion.
If the Stadia Rods EP already blew me away last year (it ended in my top 5 of best releases of 2012), Commuters is here to give the final knockout blow. This album is an absolute beast and gives the listener a no-nonsense straight in your fucking face tour-de-force of some of the best metal I have ever heard.
2013 has been a crazy year already with so many good releases, but I am sure Commuters will find its way back in my Album of the Year list for 2013.
Commuters will be released on February 22nd on Pelagic Records and can be pre-ordered on CD and vinyl here. And do yourself a favour, don’t miss them on their upcoming European and UK tour!
Review by Sander van den Driesche.
