Coroner – Dissonance Theory Review

Within the context of human lives, 32 years is a pretty long goddamn time. That’s basically a third of a really long life, so you’d expect people to change quite a bit over that time. You’d also expect bands to change a lot over such a long period, and that’s fittingly just about how long it’s been since Swiss legends Coroner released their last full length album, Grin.

They’re finally (finally) back with a new studio offering in Dissonance Theory, an album that has been in the works seemingly forever (it’s now 15 years since the reformation), and there’s both good and nervous anticipation for surrounding it. Good because Coroner’s original run exhibited one of the more compact displays of evolution in all of thrash–five albums in just seven years, each of which was at least somewhat unique from the others while showing a constant growth in their more progressive tendencies. But also a little nervous, because Grin isn’t exactly beloved by a lot of the fan base. Even those that really enjoy it (waves hand) still don’t regard it nearly as highly as classics like No More Color and Mental Vortex, so there’s a question about how Coroner might continue to evolve or not.

The most interesting thing about Dissonance Theory is that it represents both a regression from Grin and evolution past it. The new album is undoubtedly thrasher and more intense than the groove-heavy Grin, but it hasn’t lost some of the previous album’s better traits, such as an occasionally more open, less tightly-knit sound or a further emphasis on texture. In some ways, Dissonance Theory feels like a combination of Mental Vortex and Grin, but in many others it is its own album, continuing Coroner’s tradition of never quite releasing the same record twice. It also sounds like it could have come out 30 years ago as a direct follow-up to Grin, compressing time and sounding like the band picked up right where they left off, both in sound and thankfully also in quality.

One of the first things you’ll notice once “Consequence” kicks into high gear is just how slick this album sounds, modern and polished while thankfully not just sounding like one of the countless veteran thrash albums doing the same Andy Sneap-ish production. The guitar tones are thick but leave room for some atmosphere, Diego Rapacchietti’s drums blessedly sound like actual drums, Tommy Vetterli’s soloing is shredder and crisper than ever, and Ron Broder’s gruff voice still sounds like a million bucks. The band also still knows how to write a seriously catchy chorus, which is on display throughout. Zero signs of aging, as able to deliver the thrasher material – which is admittedly not as thrashy as what you heard on Punishment for Decadence all those decades ago – as the more textural prog.

On the thrasher side is the killer mid-album duo of “Symmetry” and “The Law.” The former is the album’s shortest track (not counting the intro or outro), and takes full advantage of its more compact run time with a driving ramp up (complete with great ride cymbal action), wicked infectious verse, and spaced out, shreddy solo section. “The Law,” meanwhile, might be the best tune of the bunch, deking the listener with a supremely catchy, but not exactly thrashy, early riff before dropping the syncopation hammer during the verses. The song’s blistering bridge is the most intense passage on the record, and the section that most calls to mind the band’s earlier records. Both tunes absolutely rule, and really anchor the middle of the album.

On the more progressive, purposely less intense side is something like the slower “Sacrificial Lamb,” which has a lot of pounding groove and melody, the latter often in the form of textural chord progressions and even some very subtle keys. Like many of the songs here, there’s a bigness to the chorus as things somewhat loosen up to help feature Broder’s vocals. It also features a particularly wonderful Vetterli solo, who throughout the album really reestablishes his status as not just one of thrash’s more technically sound guitarists, but also one of its elite storytellers.

Most of the rest of the album exists somewhere along the thrash-to-prog spectrum, with tunes like “Renewal” (and its connected outro “Prolonging”) really excelling at both main aspects of the Coroner sound. This provides Dissonance Theory a quality touch of dynamics in terms of both intensity and style, something that on its own really helps to keep things interesting across these 48 minutes. Some songs are admittedly more memorable than others–not every tune is an absolute banger, but crucially, none really feels like filler either. Even if you won’t be constantly captivated, the album’s floor is a very pleasant time with Coroner, which ought to bring smiles to most of the band’s fans.

So what happens in 32 years? If you’re Coroner, nothing major of note, based on Dissonance Theory. The extremely long-awaited new album feels like a natural next step from their original run, fitting in just about perfectly while offering a handful of pretty great new tunes. It won’t supplant your classic favorites, but it shouldn’t have to do so. All Dissonance Theory really needed to do was prove that Coroner is still Coroner in terms of their sound and standards, and it more than achieves that goal.