By: Charlie Butler
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 13/10/2017
Label: Independent
“Everything Out Of Tune” is a
breath of fresh air at a time when heavy music is becoming ever more reliant on
recreation of past glories. The Oxford Coma delivers a welcome blast of vital
strangeness while still riffing harder than most of their peers.
“Everything Out of Tune” DD//LP track listing:
1.
Trauma (Maybe I’m Forgetting Something)
2. Inflatable Patriots (Touching People In Their Sleep)
3. Patterns Of Thought
4. Cartoons
5. Junkies & God
6. Everything Is Out Of Tune (My Only Victories Are Others’ Failures)
7. Reciprocal Damage
8. Smack & Temporary Enlightenment
9. Good Job Boys
2. Inflatable Patriots (Touching People In Their Sleep)
3. Patterns Of Thought
4. Cartoons
5. Junkies & God
6. Everything Is Out Of Tune (My Only Victories Are Others’ Failures)
7. Reciprocal Damage
8. Smack & Temporary Enlightenment
9. Good Job Boys
The Review:
Phoenix
quartet The Oxford Coma serve up a feast of
unpredictable heavy delights on fourth LP “Everything
Out of Tune”. Elements of grunge, stoner rock, psychedelia and even a
little noise rock grit make their presence felt during this intoxicating
voyage. Although there are familiar influences evident throughout, it is The Oxford Coma’s distinctive execution that makes this
record so weird and compelling.
“Trauma (Maybe I’m Forgetting
Something)” rumbles into life like a Josh Homme-fronted Melvins while “Patterns
Of Thought” sounds like Alice In Chains getting
lost in the desert after a healthy dose of peyote. The title track is a
whirlwind riff onslaught that somehow manages to maintain a balance of
mathematical complexity and no-nonsense rock action to great effect. It is a perfect
distillation of what makes The Oxford Coma great,
intricate musicianship combined with skillful songwriting warped through a hazy
psychedelic filter.
As
the record progresses, The Oxford Coma dial
back the heaviness and let their woozy melodic side come to the fore. “Reciprocal Damage” is the closest the
band get to a regular song, the calm withdrawn vulnerability of the verses in
stark contrast to the roaring release of the choruses. The track is built
around a catchy guitar line that burrows deep into your brain and is
simultaneously menacing and haunting. “Smack And Temporary Enlightenment”
establishes a suitably narcotic atmosphere via clouds of chiming harmonics
punctured by bursts of restrained yet still incisive riffage while “Good Job Boys” brings the record home
with a slow-burning epic.
“Everything Out of
Tune”
is a breath of fresh air at a time when heavy music is becoming ever more
reliant on recreation of past glories. The
Oxford Coma delivers a welcome blast of vital strangeness while still
riffing harder than most of their peers.
“Everything Out of
Tune”
is available here
