Coalesce Salt And Passage Second Nature 2007

Coalesce Salt And Passage Second Nature 2007 CAT# SN069

Just two brutal tracks from Kansas City's finest.  Both tracks just punch you in the face and get all math-y simultaneously.  By this time in the band's history, they were comfortable to explore things on a more sonic level.  Rather than just kick your teeth in, the band and long-time producer Ed Rose, were playing around with sounds and harmonies.  Buried vocal tracks, cleaning up the insane guitar lines that spill across the band's tracks, and getting super technical behind the drums.

For a simple 7" release, Dan Askew's Second Nature label pulled out all stops on the packaging.  Most the vinyl came in color variants.  It's sleeved in 7" size gatefold.  And the print on the sleeve is well-designed and thought out.  Amazing product.

Salt and Passage EP

Coalesce Give Them Rope She Said v2.0 No Idea 2004 (Repress)

Coalesce Give Them Rope She Said v2.0 No Idea 2004 (Repress) CAT#153

This is a remastered and remixed edition of Coalesce's ahead of it's time 1997 release, Give Them Rope.  The mix is brought up, mainly the guitar.  It sounds good, don't know if it was needed, but it's got cool artwork and the remix highlights some things that may have been missed the first time around.

Between the years of 1997 and 2004 lots of thing happened with Coalesce.  Numerous breakups and line up changes, the scene they helped develop passed them by, and they found time to do an entire album of Led Zeppelin covers (which is fucking awesome).  The original bass player, Stacy Hilt left and was replaced by Nathan Ellis.  Ellis stayed with the band for a substantial amount of time, but became focused on his own group, The Casket Lottery to which he recruited Stacy Hilt, the same bass player he replaced in Coalesce to play in his band.  Hilt however, would return in 2001 to play bass yet again for the band.  James Dewees left after the groups album, Functioning on Impatience, to play keyboards for the Get Up Kid, later he did his own project, Reggie & the Full Effect, and even later wound up as the touring keyboardist for My Chemical Romance.  Singer Sean Ingram filled in briefly for the Dillinger Escape Plan and embarked on other projects.  Guitarist Jes Steineger remained a constant member, however, it's rumored his numerous religious conversions were reason for many of the band's numerous break ups.

So yeah, tumultuous history and all, but, brutal, hardcore metal needs that to continue, I guess.

Coalesce Give Them Rope Edison Recordings 1997

Coalesce Give Them Rope Edison Recordings 1997 CAT #006

This is hands down one of the most important albums to come out of Kansas City during it's 90's indie explosion.  This album virtually started a genre.  So much so, the album has been re-released several times in multiple formats.

There were other bands doing this throughout the indie scene in the late 90's.  But, most those bands were fighting traditional metal influences and trying to find a way to re-write old riffs.  Coalesce took their cue from hardcore punk by going straight for the jugular.  No "singing", No drum solos, No Guitar solos.  Just blistering metal.

To be musical and show they had the chops to be "metal," they focused on odd time signatures and dissonant guitars.  The guttural vocals and odd out of place keyboard riffs add to the chaos.  Upon first listen, and even more so if you were listening in 1997, it sounds as if it's coming from another planet.  But, give it a few spins and it all starts to make sense, even becomes enjoyable.

A few years later, bands like Botch and Dillinger Escape Plan would perfect this form.  Coalesce would constantly shift members and lose focus along the way, by doing so they'd never catch up to those groups despite improving their sound.  Nevertheless, they'll always be thought of as pioneers in the genre.

Have Patience
Coalesce Live is Fucking Scary