ALBUM REVIEW: The Oxford Coma - "Everything Out of Tune"

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 13/10/2017

Label: Independent

 “Everything Out Of Tune” is a breath of fresh air at a time when heavy music is becoming ever more reliant on recreation of past glories. The Oxford Coma delivers a welcome blast of vital strangeness while still riffing harder than most of their peers.

“Everything Out of Tune” DD//LP track listing:

1. Trauma (Maybe I’m Forgetting Something)
2. Inflatable Patriots (Touching People In Their Sleep)
3. Patterns Of Thought
4. Cartoons
5. Junkies & God
6. Everything Is Out Of Tune (My Only Victories Are Others’ Failures)
7. Reciprocal Damage
8. Smack & Temporary Enlightenment
9. Good Job Boys

The Review:

Phoenix quartet The Oxford Coma serve up a feast of unpredictable heavy delights on fourth LP “Everything Out of Tune”. Elements of grunge, stoner rock, psychedelia and even a little noise rock grit make their presence felt during this intoxicating voyage. Although there are familiar influences evident throughout, it is The Oxford Coma’s distinctive execution that makes this record so weird and compelling. 

“Trauma (Maybe I’m Forgetting Something)” rumbles into life like a Josh Homme-fronted Melvins while “Patterns Of Thought” sounds like Alice In Chains getting lost in the desert after a healthy dose of peyote. The title track is a whirlwind riff onslaught that somehow manages to maintain a balance of mathematical complexity and no-nonsense rock action to great effect. It is a perfect distillation of what makes The Oxford Coma great, intricate musicianship combined with skillful songwriting warped through a hazy psychedelic filter.

As the record progresses, The Oxford Coma dial back the heaviness and let their woozy melodic side come to the fore. “Reciprocal Damage” is the closest the band get to a regular song, the calm withdrawn vulnerability of the verses in stark contrast to the roaring release of the choruses. The track is built around a catchy guitar line that burrows deep into your brain and is simultaneously menacing and haunting.  “Smack And Temporary Enlightenment”establishes a suitably narcotic atmosphere via clouds of chiming harmonics punctured by bursts of restrained yet still incisive riffage while “Good Job Boys” brings the record home with a slow-burning epic.

“Everything Out of Tune”is a breath of fresh air at a time when heavy music is becoming ever more reliant on recreation of past glories. The Oxford Coma delivers a welcome blast of vital strangeness while still riffing harder than most of their peers.

“Everything Out of Tune”is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook