EP REVIEW: Coma Year – Limbs
LIMBS have already cooked themselves up a strong reputation with their previous EP Only The Lonely Know back in 2020. Now two years later, they unleash Coma Year, a hard-hitting, powerfully charged hardcore record that boasts nasty riffs and emotional deliveries.
Having a ferocious start with Morality Moment, this EP clearly has something relentlessly engaging from the start, and really has something to say. With vocalist Austin McAuley’s writing harnessing a difficult set of emotions to process, channelling from a close personal bereavement in 2015 and all of the stress of the previous few years, this is a slab of post-hardcore at its best.
Sonically it’s very dynamic, both leaning into the best kind of tropes of the genre and allowing room for more creative flares. Whatever serves the song, that seems to be what has been put into it. Spirit Breaker pulls at the heartstrings with its big hook chorus and almost shoegaze central guitar riffs, while title track Coma Year has the most pop-sensibilities to it, but that doesn’t detract from its weight and delivery. There’s melody and layers of musical creativity that shows that LIMBS have every intention of matching the vulnerable lyrics with the right kind of tender aggression within the instrumentation.
If I Go Before You has a much less intense antagonism, but taps into a more sombre mood that informs on McAuley’s personal experience that fuelled this record. Likewise, while it’s much more in the traditional post-hardcore zone, the shimmering guitars and softer vocals are balanced beautifully with the vocal gravel and rhythms that rise and fall.
Penultimate track Blood & Heel has the most hardcore elements that will appeal to the more frantic listeners – those who prefer to mosh and thrash themselves into feeling better than to scream their bloody hearts out. That’s not to say that the song doesn’t have its moments of respite, but LIMBS have a knack of keeping things feeling balanced through every set of emotions they harness on this EP. The ironically named Slow Burn is anything but, but again taps into the prickling irritation of something that aggravates and leads to pure aggressive despair. Once the extinction burst is all flushed out, the final moments of sober, quiet singing are a perfect reflection of the overall feeling in this record.
A solid slab of post-hardcore to cathartically free yourself of personal demons to, Coma Year has plenty of dynamics to balance the aggressive and more subtle facets of this record. A very well crafted EP by LIMBS, this is masterful delivery and a beautiful way to process grief and insecurities.
Rating: 7/10
Coma Year is set for release on June 24th via UNFD.
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