A Very Tech Death Premiere: Coexistence
You’re cowering against the wall when they burst through the bulkhead; with your phaser set to atomize, you take aim at the airlock, preparing to take the scum with you into the vacuum. The writhing forms, all hooks and gelatinous nodes, rush past you and perch on the plush couches in the cabin as you look on in confusion. Together, the creatures pull small crystals from pouches in their flesh, crushing them into a fine powder that they rub against their skin. Chittering sounds (laughter?) fill the room, and one of the lifeforms taps you on the shoulder with a tentacle, offering a pinch of the substance. Take a seat, take your dose of gorpamine, and space out with this exclusive stream of Coexistence‘s new demo.
Let’s get this out of the way: the band is close in sound to Beyond Creation, wearing the influence openly on their spacesuit sleeves (they’re named after a BC song, so it’s not exactly a secret). Despite the similar elements, Coexistence create their own tech-death universe; Christian Luconi’s fretless bass playing is confident without feeling like it’s trying to justify its existence by blaring through the mix. The end of “Symbiosis of Creation” showcases his chops with a melodic solo that never strays into the Milky Wank.
The rest of the band follows suit, allowing the stripped down production to highlight their performances. Tap-happy riffs provide the demo’s backbone, flickering like quasars in the night sky. While decidedly death metal, the music is more Horsehead Nebula than black hole—there’s a sense of wonder throughout that channels the best images from the Hubble Telescope. From the start-stop drumming that introduces “Metaphysical Essence” to the tasteful use of extended-range guitars (seriously, other bands, when you’ve got 8 strings, play more than one), there are plenty of setpiece moments to keep listeners from floating off into the void. Coexistence isn’t just the band’s name, it’s their whole ethos—a mixture of the alien and the familiar that feels like home, no matter how strange.
