Coerce – Silver Tongued Life Licker (Capital Games – 2009)
I’ve been slack the past few weeks since the world came to a shuddering halt, days have lost their meaning and productivity under house arrest has proved difficult to maintain. This pandemic has everyone on edge and showing their best and worst, I’m not unlike anyone else. But I figured everyone has even more time on their hands than normal and one of the easiest things to do is throw on an album and enjoy the sonic story-telling, especially of an album this rich. If we’re talking about genres, I’m not really sure where to put Coerce. Too heavy for rock, too light for metal, too much flair for punk. But this album is surely an exotic ride through bittersweet anthems to down and dirty grit. For anyone that’s been paying attention, Coerce also has member ties to YLVA that I covered in November last year. A far cry from one another, but equally high quality and with a touch more vision that is standard for bands of the same ilk from Australia. Throw this one on when it’s sunny outside, when it’s overcast and you want to die, when you’re just trying to keep your sanity in self-imposed lockdown. This thing is a beauty.
FFO: The Mars Volta through the salty filter of Vegemite.