Near Life Experience

Option - "...these eight harrowing tracks are as muscular and original as anything promised by Come's first two LPs. This shit is pure." Alternative Press - 4 (out of 5) - "...vocalist/guitarist Thalia Zedek and guitarist Chris Brokaw have intensified their stark, barbed guitar interplay and Zedek's raw, throaty vocals with fuller orchestration....still retaining their dark, minor-key power..." Rolling Stone - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...Come translate feelings of alienation, dejection and depression into strung-out punk-blues songs that shiver with hopelessness and glimmer with raw beauty....[NEAR LIFE EXPERIENCE] is looser and less structurally complex than prior offerings..." NME - 7 (out of 10) - "...Come...are everything the PC world should loathe with a red-raw, hand wringing passion....you feel they should really be inciting riots, and it's a real shame that, well, they're just post-Sonics thrashniks..." Magnet - "Come's most cinematic, diverse and accessible album." Rolling Stone (8/8/96, p.58) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...Come translate feelings of alienation, dejection and depression into strung-out punk-blues songs that shiver with hopelessness and glimmer with raw beauty....[NEAR LIFE EXPERIENCE] is looser and less structurally complex than prior offerings..." NME (6/1/96, p.46) - 7 (out of 10) - "...Come...are everything the PC world should loathe with a red-raw, hand wringing passion....you feel they should really be inciting riots, and it's a real shame that, well, they're just post-Sonics thrashniks..." Option (7-8/96, p.97) - "...these eight harrowing tracks are as muscular and original as anything promised by Come's first two LPs. This shit is pure." Alternative Press (8/96, pp.71-72) - 4 (out of 5) - "...vocalist/guitarist Thalia Zedek and guitarist Chris Brokaw have intensified their stark, barbed guitar interplay and Zedek's raw, throaty vocals with fuller orchestration....still retaining their dark, minor-key power..."

Although band founders Thalia Zedek and Chris Brokaw still anchor the band on NEAR LIFE EXPERIENCE, the album features several guest musicians filling in for Come's old rhythm section. Despite the lineup changes however, Come sounds remarkably unified in sound and intent on their third album. The alternately sludgy and shimmery guitars create a dark squall, sounding like post-punk filtered through the blues, with Zedek and Brokaw singing about life's darker subject matter. NEAR LIFE EXPERIENCE has more of a pop sensibility than Come's previous releases, but that's not to say that it's in any way compromised or less emotionally affecting.|