Detailed Reviews [Coinmonster - 2000 - "The Schematic"]

Line-up: Jon Reider - guitars, vocals; Rick Stoner - bass; Dave Galazia - drums.

Prologue. I wonder where this CD was traveling before it arrived to me since the guys of Coinmonster sent it more than a year ago. Actually this was my friend who came across this package accidentally when he was searching for some thing of his own in the warehouse of our local post office. The most interesting thing that Coinmonster's CD was sent to the right address of mine - to P.O.Box in one of our central post offices, but not to my local post office. I am so sorry for such an awkward situation… I can imagine what the guys of Coinmonster might think about me in this respect. That's why I ask any sender to e-mail me about the package they send. On the other hand, I am very glad this package is found at long last, because I came to like Coinmonster's music very much. Although I receive CDs from various bands and several labels routinely (at least since the fall of 1999), to me, there are too little albums of the Prog-Metal genre among them, whereas I am satisfied with the number of Prog-Jazz-Fusion CDs and especially with those of Classic Progressive Rock.

The Album. "The Schematic" is probably the 'heaviest' one among the other 'metallic' albums I ever received for my review, so this kind of music is such a pleasure to listen to. Schematically, Coinmonster successfully combines structures typical for traditional metal (strong, often thrashing guitar riffs, speedy guitar solos, a powerful work of the rhythm-section) with specific progressive things (changes of tempos and moods, odd time signatures, etc) to create music which, on the whole, is at least close to that what we call Progressive Metal. Obviously influenced by Black Sabbath, the guys of Coinmonster still have quite enough their own stylistic discoveries. The vocalist has a strong, positively harsh voice and all vocals on the album are as powerful or else subtle as the music the band performs at the moment.

Summary. Clearly not everybody's cup of tea, "The Schematic" (it's interesting, have these guys something different - not too schematic in their own view?) Coinmonster album represents a purely metallic side of Progressive - harsher than the harshest Black Sabbath album (which, in my view, is the unique "Born Again" of 1983 - with the best (and harshest) vocal work Ian Gillan ever did). I don't know why I consider the creation of such bands as Voivod & Mekong Delta (as a whole), Iced Earth & Mercyful Fate (partly) as progressive in the truest sense, being alone in the camp of open-minded prog-reviewers, most of those are distinguished by the amplitude of various manifestations of Progressive, unlike our traditional Metal (including its progressive offshots) brothers in pen. On the other hand, I don't see (hear) anything related to Progressive in the music of such bands as Rhapsody, Stratovarius, Royal Hunt, etc that occupied the 'open-minded' progressive rock pages (and some true Prog-labels - such as German "Inside Out" and "Limb Music", for example) virtually everywhere. So those (true!) Prog-Metal-heads who comprehend and love the music of the bands I mention above and below (I should write one day a review on one of the greatest albums of the Prog-Metal genre King Diamond's "The Graveyard" of 1996!), and also Watchtower, Toxic (can at least some of you remember that wonderful NYC band?) and, of course, the Godfathers of the Genre Black Sabbath (especially their period 1972 to 1978), would be happy if they get and listen to Cinmonster's "The Schematic", as well as, possibly, some of the band's other works.

Please visit the Coinmonster official website for more info on the band and its creation: http://www.coinmonster.com/

P.S. To those into a real 'metallic' Progressive I'd highly recommend to read also the following reviews:

b.html#black_sabbath_1973
black_sabbath_1978.html
garden_wall_overall.html
voivod_1993.html
d.html#dio_1993
mekong_delta_overall.html (oh, I didn't still finish it!)
watchtower_1989.html
s.html#skyclad_1996_1
s.html#sieges_even_1990
w.html#whiplash_1996
m.html#mercyful_fate_1983

(The first and the latter are the Key Reviews, by the way.)

VM. May 6, 2001