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Sometimes an album draws you in not based on its music but because of its cover artwork. Many albums bear an art style that leaves you in little doubt about what kind of music is going to be found within. An artwork may draw you to a release because of that, or simply because it looks good. Then there are artworks like that of Conscious in Coma (2017), the fifth full-length album by US depressive black metal act Worthless Life. The kind that fit into the category of 'weird and unusual'. Featuring an array of anthropomorphic insects, there is something unsettling about the art style that suggests what the music contained within may sound like, while also leaving a lot of room for speculation.
Worthless Life have, to my knowledge, usually been described as just a depressive black metal act in the past but on Conscious in Coma we find the group, which is a duo consisting of founder Caleb Hennessy (A.K.A. Rejected Soul) and new cohort Joseph Davidson (A.K.A. (J/sphynx)), producing an album that isn't constrained by that genre's style standards. For one thing, the album crosses over into atmospheric black metal a whole lot which changes the vibe of the music to a much more soothing and pleasant sound than depressive black metal is really supposed to have, while there are also some symphonic elements. The vocals are often what most draws the music back towards its real intent, but Hennessy sticks to actual growls a lot of the time, rather than the mournful or tortured tones that the genre often uses instead, though there is of course quite a bit of this sort of thing too. His vocal approach is quite varied though: there is even some clean singing used in Please Just Forget About Me, and actually done quite melodically.
A better and I think more thoughtfully crafted than I usually find depressive black metal to be, Worthless Life have produced a pretty great album in Conscious in Coma. Lyrically they obviously use the topics typically associated with their genre but musically they're a very competent and interesting act, so I find myself pleasantly surprised by this release. The opening title track is a great way to start it off, but I think the strongest track here has to be We Are a Mistake. The way that Caleb Hennessy screams the title line with such conviction shows that he knows his craft well and perhaps even truly endorses it. The following The Last Ghost is also worth a name drop as well. The album's final track I Hate Life is actually a cover, originally by Deadlife, another depressive black metal act. It's easily the most straight up DSBM track on the album, though it still fits in quite well. All in all, a very solid effort and worth checking out even if the DSBM scene isn't usually your thing.