Artist: The Coma Recovery
Album: Drown That Holy End In Wine
Label: Failed Experiment Records
Tracks: 8
Length: 51:59
Review By: Jacob Gehman

Twice in my life I’ve traveled with family to Albuquerque, New Mexico from my hometown in Central Pennsylvania. Each time I have left feeling like Albuquerque is a fantastic place. Never mind the heat (which the lack of humidity does a good job of neutralizing if you have a good air conditioner) or the buggy critters (because in my first trip there it was moth season... boy was it moth season!!) It is one of the few places I’ve been were everyone seems genuinely friendly. The Coma Recovery, who are from Albuquerque, manage to evoke the dusty beauty, if not the friendliness, of the area with the cover of their album. Despite the bullet holes in the glass that separates album purchaser from the man sleeping with a mysterious black pot in easy reach there is a serene feeling to the picture.

The Coma Recovery, however, does not particularly sound serene. A lot of screamed vocals and loud, ripping guitars punctuate the sonic palette. The effect is similar to really early mewithoutYou (think pre-[A->B] Life) while sounding more sophisticated than that. They ride the line between punk and hardcore without really fitting into either category. This doesn’t really sound like music I might normally associate with Albuquerque.

Lyrically The Coma Recovery tries too hard to impress. Lines like “She said it's always nicer when the lights are out. For in primrose, love may grace the secure. And I, as born, of such male eyes, unto a heart frail by daylight,” sound pretentious at best, and at worst completely idiotic. Perhaps the raw honesty of mewithoutYou vocalist Aaron Weiss could pull them off, but here they feel woefully over thought and thesaurused.

If you like harder mewithoutYou and don’t mind taking several steps back in quality from their current material then give The Coma Recovery a try. Or if you just want some harder music that is more challenging than your normal chugga-chugga hardcore “Drown That Holy End In Wine” shows that The Coma Recovery has tossed their chips onto the table.