The Monumental Coroner are Monumentally Back!
Fully 32 years after the last sign of recorded life, Zurich’s phenomenal post-post-thrash outfit Coroner drop a truly extraordinary comeback album. Entitled “Dissonance Theory”, it is out now via the pioneering metal label Century Media Records.
Formed originally by a handful of roadies from the internationally influential local metal heroes Celtic Frost in Zurich, the first permanent Coroner formation with Tommy Vetterli (guitar), Ron Royce (vocals, bass) and Marky Edelmann (drums) came together in 1985. First impressions based on growly vocals, furious drumming, guitars tuned low and earthquake riffing would inevitably lock the trio in a box labelled “thrash metal”. However, this conclusion turned out to be more and more wrong as the band expanded their range of influences and their playing technique at a remarkably intense rate, finding room in their wall of sound for extraordinary rhythmic twists, mind-boggling virtuosity and labyrinthine song structures. Even more remarkably, they managed to do all this without slightest hint of flash posturing or “difficulty for difficulty’s sake”. Commercial success, alas, did not follow the rave reviews from media and hardcore fans. Thus, after one last, extra-experimental album, “Grin”, the trio called it a day in 1996.
Tentative reunion shows in 2011 demonstrated that in their absence, their reputation as true originators had blossomed. The rekindled flame has flickered on and off with the odd live show ever since. Quietly, Tommy Vetterli (guitar), Ron Royce (vocals, bass) and newish member Diego Rapacchietti (drums) have also been working on turning their creative resurgence into a genuinely new start. “We didn’t pick up where we left off”, says Vetterli. “We surfaced through something else entirely”. The resulting album, recorded in Tommy’s own New Sound Studios and mixed and mastered by Jens Bogre (Opeth, Sepultura, Amon Amarth, etc), is – there isn’t another word for it – monumental.
