COMA ROSSI

Coma Rossi was formed in 2014 in Bangalore India. Not the typical origin for a progressive rock band. Still, Bangalore is one of the top "Tech-HUB's" in India, so that may at least explain their fascination for this typical "Western world" music style.

Four guys on guitars, keyboards and vocals are joined by two different guest drummers on this, their debut, self- titled, 8-track album. Great album cover, reminiscent of some of the famous Hipgnosis covers from the 70'ies! Stylistically, they obviously draw their inspiration from the likes of Riverside and other European band within the post progressive movement. I can even hear a clear influence from Riverside vocalist Mariusz Duda on some of the tracks. The overall sound often leans over to the heavy part of progressive, with distinct guitar riffs dominating the sound spectre. Most of the eight tracks carry long and sometimes quite complex instrumental passages while other are painted in large, cinematic scenes. The 2nd track "Transmission" stands out in this context with some great guitar work.

"Jomolungma is far away" is the only all instrumental track on the album and builds perfectly from the calm and lush opening sequence until it becomes more dramatic towards the end. Probably equal to the challenge of climbing to the top as "Jomolungma" is the local, Tibetian name for Mount Everest! Love this track!

"Yellow Escape" opens with a monotonous beep that forms the backbone of the rhythm for this track, and creates a slow, mysterious atmosphere. Low key, dark with a scent of despair.

"Dream" is the longest track of the album, clocking in at nearly 14 minutes, and stands out as least interesting with the first 8 minutes dominated by long, slow vocal passages, while the ending part contains some drawn out cinematic, repetitive guitar, keyboards and drums passages. On "Stillborn" and "Turn Back Time", I notice some influence from the likes of Porcupine Tree In Absentia/Deadwing area, shifting from calm and quiet instrumental sections to heavy guitar riffs and high pitched vocals.

The album closes with "Lost" which stands out as a true "tour-de-force" ending with some great guitar and keyboard soloing and interplay.

Overall, a very good debut from these Indian guys. Great instrumental skills, good songwriting with great arrangement diversity. Vocals are on par. 3.5, and this time I rounding up to 4 stars on the verdict.