Coroner: Class Is Permanent
Swiss thrashers CORONER quickly became a force to be reckoned with a string of impressive releases in the late 80’s/early 90’s before suddenly disappearing without a trace in 1996. After a prolonged spell of dormancy rumblings behind the scenes began to occur regarding a potential reunion which eventually came to fruition in 2011 as the band reconvened for a successful festival run including Maryland Deathfest, Hellfest and Bloodstock Festival.
With a renewed hunger and consistent touring outings in the following years it looked entirely possible that we may witness their long awaited return to the studio. Unfortunately a series of obstacles continued to present themselves and before we knew it another decade and change was in the rear view mirror. A staggering 32 years have now passed since the release of 1993’s Grin but it is now finally time for the talented trio to reclaim their place on the podium.
“We got signed back in about 2014/2015 so people were expecting an album in 2017,” explains guitarist Tommy Vetterli. “I started writing but life just got in the way. We lost family members, I went through a divorce, there was COVID. It was just a strange time and I just wasn’t in the mood for writing at all. The main problem for me is I work in a studio so after a full day of working all my creativity was gone and there were periods where I didn’t play guitar for a few months so I had to get myself back up to speed again. Everywhere I looked there was work in every corner so I just had to get myself away and into the mountains to find some peace and my motivation again. Time just escaped me and I think there was some procrastination involved, maybe I was a little afraid of writing a new album after so much time had passed. I was more interested in building a new paddle board or trying out new wine!”
The album Tommy is speaking of is what we now know to be sixth full-length release Dissonance Theory. An album which has taken a considerable amount of thought, planning and orchestration to bring to fruition, including the album title. “The original title for the album was going to be Oxymoron, I’m interested in everything having two sides and there not always being one truth but some people suggested that it wouldn’t be appropriate as it can have negative connotations and the word ‘moron’ can be quite offensive,” admits Tommy.
“I opted for Dissonance Theory referring to the theory of cognitive dissonance and possessing conflicting beliefs. A simple example would be eating meat, you like the taste but you’re not comfortable with the harming of animals or the environmental impacts. The album isn’t conceptual but contains this theme. I must have wrote between 30 and 50 songs and obviously not all of those made it onto the album. We wanted to make sure we were completely happy with what we released. It needed to be something special and fitting of the occasion. I spent a few weeks just getting my guitar sound nailed down. This is the first album where I’m 100% happy with everything, it all has a purpose and deserves to be there.”
Returning with new material after such an extensive period of time could be considered quite a daunting task. Do you stick to your guns and proceed with what brought you to the dance? Do you try something different and risk severing the connection with your initially established fans? “I thought a lot about what our sound should be,” discusses Tommy. “People have their preferences in our previous albums but it didn’t make sense to lean into those too much because I’m a totally different person now. I probably couldn’t write an album like those now, even if I wanted to. There are some similarities as it’s the same person writing the riffs and my taste and style is still visible. We still enjoy playing the old material live but this time we wanted to focus on mood and emotion rather than being technical for the sake of it or writing the fastest riffs.
“I recorded a lot of riffs and programmed some drums and towards the end of the process we did some sessions as a band to go over everything. I did miss having someone with me to give me feedback. In the past that was always our former drummer Marky. He would be very direct and tell me if something sucked or if my melodies sounded like a commercial. At the time I hated him for it but for the most part, he was right and he kept me focused. I needed someone I could trust to help me with the production duties so I asked my best friend Dennis Ross. I’ve known him for over 10 years and we work together in the studio quite often. I usually request his services when I’m really busy and he’s like the Mr Wolf in Pulp Fiction, he comes and cleans everything up for me. It made a big difference having him as part of the process.”
Despite considerable phases of inactivity, CORONER have been blessed with the unwavering dedication of their fans throughout their tenure. They are now beginning to witness the “changing of the guard” with younger generations experiencing their music, most of which was created long before they were born! “We played a US tour recently and there was quite a few young kids there. One was wearing a tour shirt from 1989 which he used to be his uncles which was really cool,” shares Tommy. “Seeing fathers bringing their sons to shows and introducing them to the bands they listened to when they were growing up is awesome. It’s crazy seeing old tour footage on YouTube from like 20 years ago and people playing our songs on guitar. We’ve got a new management team who have been with us for the last couple of years and they’re great at helping us out on social media as I just forget to do any of that stuff! We’re not sure what the future holds for us just yet, I guess it all depends on how well this album is received but so far the response has been overwhelming. We want to start playing more shows and start playing more festivals and just have fun doing it for as long as we can. Touring keeps us young. I can imagine we still have another album in us, I can’t exactly say when though.”
Dissonance Theory is out now via Century Media Records. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS124 here:
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