Coilguns
Stadia Rods
6.5
Stadia Rods is a somewhat impressive little EP from Coilguns, a Swiss mathcore trio comprised of members from progressive/experimental metal group The Ocean. While a lot of music in this genre sounds haphazard and disorganized, there’s a concise execution to this EP that is worthy of note. Louis Jucker, Jona Nido, and Luc Hess offer intelligent performances without sacrificing the spontaneity of their sound, and it’ll be interesting to see what these three do with a full-length album.
Their sound occasionally borders on Dillinger Escape Plan mimicry as the EP plays out, but not in an irritating way. It really seems as though these guys had a great time recording Stadia Rods, and that untethered enthusiasm runs rampant along with the piercing screams and shrieks clamoring above the dense layers of guitar and drums. In other words, even though it’s not particularly inventive, it’s an inoffensive and very likeable collection of tunes.
“Parkensine” is an opener bursting at the seams with energy, and it’s hands down the best track out of the half-dozen on Stadia Rods in terms of composition and originality. Unfortunately, it also proves a tough act to follow, but Coilguns tries their best before running out of steam shortly after the halfway mark. “In the Limelights” breaks through the fragments of chaos with down-tempo riff and contemplative rhythmic control, and it also marks where the EP stops succeeding and begins to stagnate. There’s nothing cutting edge about this track, but its placement amidst songs overflowing with feverish drumming and atonal riffage makes Stadia Rods a more fully conceived effort despite its brevity.
“Witness the Kern Arc” is a tight five-minute track with bloodcurdling shout/scream hybrids and solid dynamics. It’s more ‘core’ than ‘math’, and one can headbang pretty freely without worrying about perpetually shifting time signatures and random interjections of frenetic battering. Sadly, things take a turn for the worse and Coilguns' hold on the listener loosens into a sleepy infant’s grip by the last track. It starts off solidly enough, but the sluggish pace wears on the listener, and the otherwise strong Stadia Rods ends on a fairly unimpressive note. By the time the tempo picks up (after a tiny interjection of whiny feedback), it’s almost an exercise in futility. Even so, this is a promising EP, but my statement is based more on the first four tracks, rather than the last two.
What Coilguns is doing isn’t terribly special, in the sense that they haven’t broken new ground, but they’ve made an exciting and “accessible” record without giving up any of the grit and bloody knuckles that make this kind of music such a fun listening experience. If you’re seeking a complex and dissonant album that pushes the envelope over the precipice of originality and into a maelstrom of mayhem, then this isn’t the EP to listen to. However, it’s a half hour of well-crafted mathcore that might turn a few heads without snapping any necks.
