Coma Regalia / Snag Split
Photo Cred 📸: @doveonfilm
I love splits. I know we’ve already gone over this before but seriously. It bears repeating. Splits are a healthy measurement of any scene.
Two bands either from similar or differing circles coming together to deliver one solid batch of music, forging alliances, friendships, bridges, whatever. It’s something that I’ve always loved about our scene. So when I heard about the Coma Regalia / Snag split of course I became incredibly excited. Already legends in their own rights, I knew that by joining forces, they’d produce an instant classic. And even after thinking all that, I still was blown away.
Wasting no time, Snag immediately rip into their side with “Lyla”, an explosive yet tightly wound track, with ramping, driving drumming and stalked-down-an-alley basslines. Shifting gears immediately “Tunnels” kicks out punishing blast beats and guttural black metal growls before transforming into a shifting and melodically wrapped blending of classic screamo and hardcore. The springy, bouncing scales of “On the Human Condition” lead into a sharp clatter of drums and shrieking guitar, as an almost muted background chorus chants along. The track then wheels and winds into electric riffs and bass ripped from the deeper bowels of the earth.
Once we make it to “Evelyn” we’re met by soft plucks of guitar chords morphing into a wall of noise that slowly ease out into a soft melody. The moments like these, found throughout different points in Snag’s side have built small moments of quiet reflection before building back into huge emotional swells of rhythm and chorus. Snag wrap up their run of tracks with “A Familiar Feeling” opened by harp like riffs and atmospheric strums and licks, building and ramping before cutting left into anthemic instrumentations and powerful shouts featuring awakebutstillinbed, as Snag’s closing cries of ‘I’m sorry / It’s too late’ begin to fade out with only a sharp warning tone remaining.
That tone connects the thread into “Initiate Transfer” the first track on Coma Regalia’s side of the split. Huge arena style guitar strums and drum hits switch quickly into intensely emotional singing and shouting. “Fire/Wall” brings the throaty horse vocals into the 90s punk realm of hardcore meeting the fretboard dancing and emo/screamo twists and turns as only Coma can provide. Driving guitar lines absolutely crackle with dissonance as the drumlines fill the air with huge clatters and tight crashes. “Redirect” opens with what has to be one of the catchiest and most infectious meshing of sung and screamed vocals that I’ve heard all year, going from wildly melodic to cacophonously delicious in seconds.
Diffused and distorted spoken word hangs heavily as the chorus darts quietly sung in the background, all while the instruments wind up for the latter half of the track, erupting into a massive deluge of screams, riffs and drum hits. Barely a reprieve is given before “Algo Error” immediately picks up, carrying the melody along, equally rife with all of the incredible chaos found throughout the split. The midsections stuttering and stop start instrumentals give way to warring sonics and screams before kicking the door open to the final track on the split “Log Off”. There’s almost a B52s quality to the chorus, bouncing between 80s hardcore and the ethereal nature of Oingo Boingo, before the final droning guitars slides into silence.
Both bands cut an absolutely monumental set of tracks, easily the best we’ve heard yet. Snag’s white knuckle grip on the alarm bell of climate crisis shakes as aggressively and earnestly as ever, while Coma Regalia’s side is rife with the urgency of unplugging and feeling the air and sun available to you only a few feet away. We really could not get enough of this split and in a year of incredible drops this easily shot its way to the top of our list.
You can stream the entire split in full when it’s released October 6th via Middleman Records in the US and Shove Records in the EU, but you can stream Algo Error by Coma Regalia below.
You can preorder the vinyl here : Middleman Records
Writer : @letsgetpivotal
Editor : @just_reidz
09/25/23
