Album of the Month... February 2015

Eternal Misery by No Zodiac

6 Dec 2011

Coins as Portraits: 'Form and Structure. Storm and Fracture.'


The second band released on Romania’s Fading Halo Records, Coins as Portraits play an exciting experimental mix of mathcore music. Although mathcore isn’t as exclusive as it once was, I still find that listening to new bands who the sound quite appealing. Coins as Portraits debut record Form and Structure, Storm and Fracture is far from regimented as the title suggests and is one to be listened to.

Playing a crazy mix of extreme guitar riffs and bursts of drum beats, left, right and centre, this will make your head want to explode! The EP kicks off straight into some intense guitar musicianship with heavy sounding chugging riffs, mixed with steady rhythm parts and technical melodic lead tunes. The first track Great Numbers pulls no punches and jumps straight in with a frenzy of instrumentals flying around everywhere, combined with some deep throaty growls and high pitched screaming. The idea of song structures goes completely out the window and everything is executed perfectly. The Curator’s Bush and The Plot also contain a substantial amount of fiddly lead guitar parts and blasting drum beats which definitely suits their style of music. There is a steady amount of stop/start riffs which leaves a split half a second gap to realise what’s coming next!

It takes very talented musicians to create this style of music which is has a notable flow and rhythm, plus with strong lyrical content. The themes that Coins as Portraits have incorporated are the philosophy and knowledge of people’s roles in life, giving references to their personal impact on society. This band certainly aims to play provocative music, and the vocalist screams his lungs out on every track over the scrambled instrumentals bellowing every statement they want to get across.

One concern I have is that the record is hard to navigate through as each track seems to jump straight into another, and after listening to the record a few times it leaves you somewhat disorientated, often felt with the mathcore genre as a whole. A lot of attention has to be paid when trying to piece together favourite parts from each song, as it will fly past without you even realising. This is definitely a record for mathcore fans out there, plus people with perhaps short attention spans, as this record never slows down and maintains the rapid speed throughout. A captivating record, which I would recommend for you to check out.


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