Give Them Rope＜Custom Galaxy Merge Edition Vinyl＞

Give Them Rope was Coalesce's first full-length, although it was preceded by numerous 7"s, EPs, and split releases. This is relentlessly pummeling music that blurs the lines between hardcore, metal, and math rock, anticipating a whole trend of technical hardcore-metal that continued in the late '90s and early 2000s. Frontman Sean Ingram's vocals out are a caustic, indecipherable spew and are accompanied by an equally raging battery of guitar-bass-drum action -- there are no guitar solos or quaint melodic passages to be found here. That accounts for the heaviness and impact of the music, although it also points to its main fault, which is a lack of dynamic variation (something that's common to the genre). On the other hand, the variations within the music are constant, with time signatures and riffs morphing and switching fluidly and often throughout the album. Coalesce's next full-length, 0:12 Revolution in Just Listening, manages to be heavier and more immediately catchy, but this is also a strong effort, and it gets extra merit points for helping influence a lot of music that followed in the coming years. ~ William York