Coma Divine – Dead End Circle

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As one half of L’ame Immortelle, Sonja Kraushofer will probably be only familiar to those deeply into female fronted metal, or have a more general interest in Germanic music. Those who have come across her will know that the singer brings a very strong character to her band’s performances, utilizing a snarly but oddly operatic vocal delivery, whilst generally flailing around the stage like a ragdoll. Of course, L’ame Immortelle’s style of music can veer towards the electronic and industrial, so a more rock orientated project seems like a good idea. Dead End Circle, the band’s debut, starts off very well with the very anthemic Burn, Sister, a rather fast song that introduces the band well. Unfortunately the album really slips after such a great start, and falls into slower gothic rock over Rotten World and The Odd One Out. There are some throwbacks to the faster opening style on songs like From Time to Time, but the album seems to quickly lose momentum, with the songs gradually sounding more tired as the album progresses. This is a shame, as Sonja’s voice is very much on form, and delivers an acidic and sinister performance throughout. The music itself is also very strong on atmosphere, heavily utilizing keyboards and harsh sounding strings to delivery a very potent gothic soundtrack. Unfortunately the album really lacks a good measure of quality tunes; there are notable highlights, but otherwise as beautiful as the band’s sound is, the album itself feels like a let-down.

Written by James Donovan
More: 2011, Albums, Female-fronted, Gothic, Quick.Play Reviews, Coma Divine