Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Coalesce - 0:12 Revolution in Just Listening (1999)
Another kick-A album coming through, this one from one of the most historical years in metalcore/mathcore, my birth year, 1999! That year spawned a few blockbusting classics from the technical Dillinger Escape Plan, the melodic Poison the Well, and the mathematical Botch. And rounding off that awesome year is Coalesce, with their then-swansong album 0:12 Revolution in Just Listening!
The album is only under 24 minutes long, just as long as Rorschach's debut, but it's worth listening to all this hardcore grace. It has really paved the way for a new millennium for the metalcore of A Life Once Lost, the mathcore of Every Time I Die, and the deathcore of The Red Chord, though Coalesce's brutal technicality can never be cloned.
The action plays right away in "What Happens on the Road Always Comes Home", striking you like a truck to a brick wall. The fast frets soon collapse into a monstrous headbanging groove. It's all topped out by Sean Ingram's vocals that should be heard at least once in your lifetime. Segueing out of an odd children-filled audio sample is "Cowards.com", unleashing a crushing mathcore assault that mixes Deadguy with early Meshuggah. "Burn Everything That Bears Our Name" is another top-notch highlight.
Progressing through is "While The Jacka** Operation Spins It's Wheels" with the quick guitar fury of TDEP at that time, all in a beautiful force of precise dissonance. The rather aptly-titled "Sometimes Selling Out Is Waking Up" has a strange yet smashing amount of riffs. Some of those riffs sound fitting for Led Zeppelin while others are noisy beyond human comprehension. Now for the next song, "Where The H*ll Is Rick Thorne These Days?" Well, h*ll if I know! I don't even know who this Rick Thorne dude is. But at least we have another groovy metallic hardcore track.
"Jesus in the Year 2000/Next on the Sh*t List" starts with a collage of audio samples until Coalesce's force is unleashed again into your ears. James Dewees' drumming skills pummel through the hammering riffing and vocals to skin alive the weak. Now that's a classic! "Counting Murders, Drinking Beer (The $46,000 Escape)" is another top-notch composition with verse reverb. A crushing highlight not for the faint of heart! The ambient ending "They Always Come in Fall" actually closes the album quite well.
0:12 Revolution in Just Listening is an intense math/metalcore ride through furious groove precision. It is a heavy landmark for the genre and essential listening for any metalcore fan in The Revolution!
Favorites: "What Happens on the Road Always Comes Home", "Burn Everything That Bears Our Name, "While The Jacka** Operation Spins It's Wheels", "Jesus in the Year 2000/Next on the Sh*t List", "Counting Murders, Drinking Beer (The $46,000 Escape)"