EP REVIEW: Coma Hole – Coma Hole

Ever wondered what grunge would sound like if it were fed through walls of psychedelia and distortion? Wonder no longer as COMA HOLE have the answers with their self-titled debut EP. The duo formed with a desire to create something new out of the old, welding 90s grunge to stoner doom, creating walls of noise and drone with as few frills as possible. 

Indeed, on a cursory listen to Coma Hole, it’s difficult to imagine they’re doing all this with just two members. Layering vocalist/bassist Eryka Fir‘s sultry tones creates ethereal harmonies, while the levels of distortion and fuzz applied to her bass make it sound as if there’s far more than just the one instrument there; it’s easy to forget there’s no guitar at all with the sheer breadth of tones achieved. Drummer Steve Anderson is similarly omnipresent; patterns are never simple, often off-kilter or complex, but always driving and anchoring their commanding psychedelic assault. 

The opening and closing tracks The Familiar and Sinking are both 11-minute behemoths, flanking the much shorter Old Climb and Wind And Bone. Despite opening with such an undertaking, COMA HOLE don’t suffer for it. They cover so much ground in a single song you’d be forgiven for thinking it was two or even three. Time signatures, tempo, mood; it all changes but there’s a clear current that ties them all together. Fading into view with growing waves of distortion and cymbal rolls, The Familiar takes its time to get going but is a stoner juggernaut when it does, picking up pace from controlled lethargy like a fuzzed-out CONAN to a bluesy steamroller of a track by its halfway point. 

Old Climb follows and proves COMA HOLE don’t just do lengthy songs; at a hair over four and a half minutes, the time passes by in a blur. Opening at a tearaway pace, Anderson makes plenty use of the short time to pack in seemingly as many fills as possible but it’s done tastefully and doesn’t overpower Fir’s bass or vocals. With the layered vocals and soaring harmonies there’s still a sense of vastness, as the song explores the desperation of trying the same things over and over while expecting different results. Wind And Bone offers another exploration of mortality and humanity and the decay of things back into the natural world and the order of things. Dark, descending riffs characterise it and contradict Fir as she utilises soaring melodies and harmonies. 

As Sinking closes the EP, returning to the feelings of isolation explored in Old Familiar, albeit striking a more positive tone compared to the desolation of before, there’s a palpable sense of achievement despite its cyclical nature. Coma Hole is near album-length, but at no point do its four tracks drag; even in its most cumbersome, lethargic moments there’s a sense of kinesis, of moving somewhere even if the destination is yet unknown, as if the band are discovering their destination at the same time as the listener. Promising much, COMA HOLE manage to deliver it all; ruminations on the human condition, a sense of vast scale and the fusing of genres all told by two adroit musicians who sought only to explore. 

Rating: 8/10

Coma Hole is set for release on April 22nd via self-release.

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