Austin Sound

Reviewing an album isn’t an easy task; sometimes, it seems like reviewing an album is harder and more arduous (or at least time consuming) than writing and recording one. Case in point: Coma in Algiers’ sophomore release, Your Heart Your Body. One of the more established noise rockers in a city more attuned towards country and blues rock, Coma in Algiers is a tough nut to crack, a hard meal to digest, and an acid tab slow to absorb. Keyboardist/vocalist Killshire and keyboardist/bassist/vocalist Archbold’s founding inspirational moment is self described as how the two of them were “listening to the Electric Eels and were full of disgust & joy for their lack of talent” — and it’s hard to know if that’s the Electric Eels lack of talent or Killshire and Archbold’s own self assessment.

If there is an edge to be found, Coma in Algiers sharpens it at every turn. The Austin quintet’s debut, This is Your Justice, cuts and stabs with bloody intent, 13 tracks that veer from broodingly dark to savagely punk, but never failing to slice through the bullshit with a serrated, and sometimes hilariously irreverent, knife. The first two songs appropriately set the tone for what follows: “Johnny Comes Home” fires percussive shots against increasingly driving guitars as the vocals scream out with force and fury; “Black Rabbit,” on the other hand, drones like a more intimidating Black Angels, even opening with the line “She was like a black angel of death; she had nothing left” eased out in slow moans, before caustically declaring “She fucked like a jack rabbit, yeah.”