Coroner - Dissonance Theory (2025)

I was as shocked as any when it was revealed that Coroner was doing a tour in the US and releasing a new album. Yes, I know they'd gotten back together some 15 years prior for some gigs, and kept a low profile since that point, with nothing much on the horizon, but I didn't think much would ever manifest from that reunion other than a capitalization on the nostalgia that their brilliant original run of albums evokes. You see, this was one of my favorite underground acts in the late 80s/early 90s, as I'm sure it was for many, music so bloody good that you felt smarter than everyone else for listening. You weren't, of course, but it was at least great to feel that way as puberty was budding and you were continuing to shape your musical tastes and interactions with all the other metalheads around you. And back then, there were many.

Punishment for Decadence and No More Color are two of the most perfect albums I own, for their dark and dingy lyrical content, stark and uniform cover imagery, and incredible power trio musicianship, in particular the baroque guitar wizardry of Tommy T. Baron, which stunned me with its scale-work and innovation. In fact, almost 40 years later, I can't think of many albums that can match them in that way. Sure, there are scores if not hundreds of other amazing guitarists who created their own niches, some I appreciate as much as Coroner, but his style was distinct. And with Ron barking and playing along formidably, and some great drumming from Marky, they were just so unstoppable. Granted, Mental Vortex took things to a more muffly, minimalist, accessible direction, still with some amazing guitar riffs spiking out here or there, and Grin was more experimental as Coroner aspired to adjust itself to the changing times around them, and also to progress rather than reproduced the perfection already achieved. Those were increasingly disappointing, but never bad, and still have standout moments I revisit.

I digress. So there was NO WAY Dissonance Theory was going to be on the level of Punishment or No More Color, and it's not, but I was nonetheless impressed with the lead single, and then even more so after I got a few spins through the album proper. This for me feels like an evolutionary stage that might have taken place between Mental Vortex and Grin, with the more groovy thrash and progressive, atmospheric ideas that were starting to dominate their compositions at that time. There are few of the brilliant guitar hysterics I would have given a limb to hear once more, but as a coherent, conceptual whole this album is smooth as butter, yet as brooding and dark thematically as any of their prior material apart from maybe R.I.P. which sounds like its being showered upon you from an antiquated European graveyard. There's an industrial, post-modern vibe to the material here, I'd aesthetically compare it to Kreator's Renewal, an album most people hated (that I love), but this is less depressive and a lot more atmospheric, and obviously has a much more fulfilling production.

Structurally, we've got a lot of simplistic riffing grooves, slathered in atmospheric guitars, and so well rhythmically measured that they immediately leave an emotional impact. The beats are throbbing and hammering along, giving it that industrial metal punch, soon joined by the chugging guitars in a tune like "Sacrificial Lamb" or "Cirsium Bound", which definitely feel as if they're modernized tracks from the cutting room floor of Mental Vortex. As the title would imply, there's plenty of dissonance here, like the intro to "Transparent Eye", or a lot of the chords they play to cap off the chugging guitar patterns, but there's also a warmth to a lot of the choruses and grooves, so Coroner is exploring a musical spectrum far wider than the cover art might hint at. I know I've read a lot of people citing that is nothing like Grin, but that isn't true whatsoever, a lot of those sorts of grooves are present here seem like they're muscled up versions of what have appeared there, only the overall weight of the album, the intrinsic ambience and melody helps flesh them out to a more memorable level.

But Coroner does still thrash where it needs to, as on "Renewal" or "Consequence". Tommy T. still has all the technical chops, you can hear them in spurts, but he chooses to relinquish them for the songs themselves, only writing what services their mood. The bass tone is swarthy and powerful, the new drummer Diego Rapacchietti fits right in with the sort of rigorous level of ability, and Ron sounds like he has been left in a cryochamber since the mid-90s, his vocals are still dark and simple barking, but have just the right level of reverb and effects on them to champion the emotional resonance that this album immerses you in. I daresay this is the most 'uplifting' Coroner album, which might not be for everyone, but while it might not hit the mechanical brilliance of the 1987-89 era, it's probably the best they've done outside of that. I've come away from this one super-satisfied, and eager to hear whatever they might create next.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.25/10]

https://coronerofficial.com/