Well, this has quite a pedigree to it. With band members such as Sonja Kraushofer, the singer of L’ame Immortelle and Persephone, and Ashley Dayour, musician for Whispers in The Shadow, and Martin Höfert of Persephone and former member of Sopor Aeternus, you can expect good results. For when forward thinking metallers, goth rockers and ethereal musicians congregate to make music that calls Metal “Mummy”, they aren’t just going to do things by the book when they can demonstrate their highly developed musical knowledge and fondness of detail in their work. And that’s where Coma Divine shows. Even if they forget things like restraint and discipline.

“Burn, Sister” tears up the ice and family bonds with a full hard swing, only to fiddle about with cello and fanciful arrangements and sentences to make way to a blown and bloody crescendo. “Rotten World” croons like a banshee pop diva, singing from full blown shred-it-all-to-hell Metal and quieter, more intricate moments of self reflection. “The Odd One Out” waltzes with a Cabaret smirk on its face as it tells a story of an isolated woman. “I Remember” rattles away in its cage like an above average Goth Metal track. “From Time To Time” sounds like it could have been written by Nightwish. “Praise The Fallen” takes a meditative turn and strolls down a forgotten boulevard that is contemplating the memories of others. “Reason to Live” is still on a stroll to help handle its angst but its not working out as it turns to aggression to handle things. However, it has an excellent moment with strings that reminds me of Miranda Sex Garden and the exit chorus is superb.

“Secret Lover” sounds like a Hard Rock love song that really hits home the influence the group takes from L’ame Immortelle and seems determined to try every pace it can to see which one suits, settling on something with speed but that’s still controllable. “Fast Lane” is a song that requires no description as you can guess what it’s about. “About A Girl” growls alone like full on Death Metal but with lower levels testosterone. “Dead End” plays around with guitar distortion that niggles the mind in a good way while the bass broods and the singer despairs, only to flip out and set all instruments to wail, and then gives way for the guitars to touch the soul of the listener with treble turned up high and the bass turned up to round it all off in ways that remind me of Dionysus. And it takes its sweet, sweet time to fade into silence.

Coma Divine has something very strange going on here. What we’re looking at is a lot of raw crazy music ideas put together and packaged on one disc. It’s not quite Goth Metal, not quite Symphonic Metal and not that Experimental. However, it is bi- polar and incredibly chaotic as the songs are very likely to swing from one end of the speedometer to the other and change mood a few times in one song. The group needs to refine their song writing and make things more structured, but nonetheless what is here is a fine, challenging work for both musician and listener.