J-Man
Coordinates of Confusion is a really great album. As a matter of fact, it is a fantastic modern thrash release. The soaring vocals, double-bass pedal drum patterns, and blinding guitar leads are enough to make any thrash metal fan's mouth water. So what's the problem here? I've heard Coordinates of Confusion literally dozens of times before I even knew of its existence. How's this possible? Coordinates of Confusion is 80's thrash/power metal in its truest form, sounding almost identical to the sea of bands that populated the genre back in its heyday... except this album arrived 25 years too late. Maybe fans of old school thrash will love this one, but if you're looking for new and adventurous music, this isn't the place to turn. Even though the music is fun and enjoyable, this is severely lacking in enough originality to be an album to remember a couple years from now. Negligence shows an amazing amount of potential throughout this entire album - it's almost a shame to see their talent used to re-hash albums that we've all heard before.
When talking about Negligence, the most obvious references are Metallica, Iced Earth, and Megadeth. Not a bad list of bands to be compared to, but the main problem rests in the ever-apparent feeling that Negligence is mimicking these bands, rather than crafting their own sound. Hopefully, this should be an easy fix for Negligence in the future. With such a talented group of musicians, creating a more distinct sound shouldn't be too difficult. Let's just say that I'm cautiously optimistic about this band's future. The songwriting is generally strong and enjoyable, and rests in a solid combination of straight-forward thrash and more mid-tempo tracks. Some of the songs feel a bit uninspired and generic, but I feel that it's another byproduct of their derivative sound. All in all, Coordinates of Confusion is a fun album from beginning to end, despite its flaws. A song like "Screaming Fear" is extremely difficult to get out of your head once it enters. There aren't many other standout tracks, and I think the general lack of variation is to blame for that. Each song is a good standalone track, but it can seem a bit lifeless by the end of the album. One of the biggest assets to Negligence's music is the terrific musicianship, on all parts of the band. These guys are genuinely fun to listen to - let's just hope they utilize their musicianship a bit more on future releases.
The production is great, and is absolutely fitting for a thrash/power metal hybrid.
Coordinates of Confusion is a really good album, but I have a tough time calling it essential to any group of people. Even casual thrash metal fans have heard everything this album has to offer many times before. Maybe die-hard thrashers will want to track this down, even though 2010 alone has provided better albums in this genre. Despite my indifferent feelings towards Coordinates of Confusion, I do have high hopes for this band. If they can just stop living in the shadows of the eighties metal giants, I can see them doing something really great. As it stands, this is a good, though completely non-essential, album. I'm going to play my 3 star card here, based mainly on the promise that the band provides in their current state.