New Mexicos purveyors of dark, industrial post rock Coma Recovery, return with their latest offering the deeply intense Goddverb. Conjuring visions of a scorched, cracked earth scattered intermittently by deathly, bare, skeletal trees encircling broken, desolate, grey cities engulfed by vicious, tumultuous, biting winds choking the air with grit and dust, Goddverb can be seen as a perfect soundtrack to this post apocalyptic landscape teetering on the edge of the abyss. Depressing stuff?? Not in the least. Formed in early 2001 under the name Persona Projector, the band has undergone several line-up changes before settling on its current incarnation as Coma Recovery. After two self released EPs the band recorded their debut long player Drown That Holy End In Wine, an early indicator of the bands proclivity for the darkly atmospheric blend of post rock and hardcore that has become the vertebrae for the extraordinary Goddverb.
According to the band the inspiration behind Goddverb is to “remind us that in the midst of an industry collapsing from its own failure to bring us simple substance, music can still be bold and outspoken, still induce passion and vigour, still inspire and confound in the same breath, still hold onto one hundred per cent of its integrity,” and this power, passion and integrity resonates throughout the five tracks that make up the record. From the bruising, grittiness of Red Lighting Child/Great Emptiness right through the cacophony of melodic distortion and unremitting guitars that is title track Goddverb and on to the albums soaring and dare I say hopeful closer Illuminator, Coma Recovery stand fast behind this unwavering ideology and it pays off remarkably.
This is a record that quite astonishingly manages to evoke powerful, dark apocalyptic images while at the same time puncturing them with beams of transcendent, graceful, intoxicating light. My only concern is where Coma Recovery can go from here.
