Hey there, tech fiends. It's that time of the week again. Before we dive into today's focus, here's the usual weekly reminder that if you're looking for even more sick bands to hear, all prior editions of this series can be perused here.
Once again, I've got a special early exclusive for you today that is worth your full attention from start to finish. Coexistence from Italy has been around since 2015 and are about to drop their debut album, Collateral Dimension, this Friday, October 23rd via Transcending Obscurity Records. As usual, you can either scroll below and start jamming the music or read on to learn more about the band and this release.
I'm going to get my main criticism out of the way from the onset, their early initial single, and 2018 EP, Contact with the Entity, sounded too much like a clone of Beyond Creation stylistically to really wow me. Between what I heard then, and their 2020 debut, Collateral Dimension, this is more than a big enough leap from just sounding like one source of inspiration to keep me hooked. I'm aware the first two songs are from their 2019 demo, and, I regret having not heard them prior as they're both excellent songs. Although, if it was me, I wouldn't place them as the first two tracks here as they're both old songs and not the utmost standard material on this effort really.
What makes Collateral Dimension a stronger effort is its greater sonic diversity, reminding me of both Pestilence and Obscura at times among others. There is a substantial old-school death metal/old-school tech-death air to Collateral Dimension but it's hard to really pin it down besides maybe some moments that could also be attributed to a love of Cynic and Augury – Concealed outside Pestilence as mentioned.
I asked if I could get some new information to share for today's launch and was told by the band that "Collateral Dimension is a huge step for us, from the sound to the visual part of it. Regarding the sound, during the composition process of the album, we've started to add more and more elements from Fusion and Jazz music, as well as particular attention to the atmosphere and a melodic sense, combining those parts with our Death Metal sound we've achieved a result that all of us are really pleased of. From the lyrical side, it's a step forward including strong spiritual and emotional concepts, blending them with a cosmic setting that was also present in the previous EP Contact with the Entity. All of those elements come together to form a painting and Adam Burke has found the best possible way to make into reality all of these concepts with his outstanding job with the cover art. We are extremely proud of this record and we hope that all the people can enjoy and understand the meaning that it can offer."
Coexistence – Collateral Dimension deserves to be viewed through the lens of a group truly trying to grow and expand outwards into a group that has a sound all their own. I love it when groups I may not have been totally sold on prior blew me away later, and that's exactly what this album is at heart, a leap forward worth paying attention to.
You can pre-order the album HERE and HERE. You can also follow the group over on the Coexistence Facebook Page.
