Coroner

From their modest beginnings as roadies for avant-garde Swiss metal legends Celtic Frost, the members of Coroner carved out one of the most unique careers in the European thrash metal scene. They were originally pegged as a conventional thrash band, but their jaw-dropping musicianship and increasingly complex, almost prog rock compositions soon won over most critics, some of whom labeled them the Rush of thrash metal…

Less a greatest-hits set than an odds and sods collection, this eponymous release was compiled nearly a year after Coroner's breakup. Forced by record company Noise to honor their contract, the band's original members temporarily reunited under less than cooperative circumstances (drummer Marky Edelmann was especially difficult, forcing the recruitment of a replacement for some tracks), and it's no small wonder that anything resembling a complete career wrap-up was achieved…

1987's R.I.P. album represented a pretty inconspicuous start for Swiss trio Coroner – one whose modest ambitions they would quickly outdistance on their way to morphing into one of thrash metal's all-time most adventurous bands…

From their modest beginnings as roadies for avant-garde Swiss metal legends Celtic Frost, the members of Coroner carved out one of the most unique careers in the European thrash metal scene. The trio was originally pegged as a conventional thrash band, but their jaw-dropping musicianship and increasingly complex, almost prog rock compositions soon won over most critics, some of which labeled them the Rush of thrash metal…

Punishment for Decadence is a landmark on Coroner’s career. It is their second album, and also the one which could be considered as “transitional”. Now, usually, transitional albums are not salient within a band’s discography and tend to be overlooked, as they show them in a phase of changes. However this should not be the case, as Coroner’s Punishment for Decadence stands as top-notch Technical Thrash album…

Although most fans and critics will commonly point to 1991's Mental Vortex as Coroner's best all-around effort, the adventurous Swiss trio had yet to deliver one last semi-masterpiece before going their separate ways. Ultimately Coroner's last will and testament, 1993's multi-faceted Grin drew strong criticism from some of the band's more extreme fan contingent upon release – these being of the opinion that its experimental songwriting was simply too "out there," even for Coroner…

Most anyone still doubting Coroner's merits as anything but "the band formed by Celtic Frost's old roadies" was likely silenced by their very impressive second album, 1988's Punishment for Decadence. Though not nearly as adventurous as their previous employers early on, the members of Coroner had the clear advantage of being incredibly gifted musicians from day one; and aesthetically, they evidently already aspired to become the thrash metal power trio equivalent of Rush by splitting songwriting duties between guitarist Tommy T. Baron and bassist/singer Ron Royce, while drummer Marquis Marky handled the lyric-writing…

In a 2011 interview for the Greek Metal Hammer, Marquis Marky claimed that Mercyful Fate was the most important band in shaping Coroner's sound. Listening to their debut "R.I.P." such a thing is not obvious. It's an interesting mix of wild, technical thrash, what Mercyful Fate?…

Coroner's unorthodox approach to thrash metal had been turning heads and opening minds with their every release, and with album number four, 1991's Mental Vortex, the band arguably reached their creative peak. Widely regarded as their greatest achievement, Mental Vortex was the culmination of three increasingly unique and experimental albums which saw the Swiss trio (much like their early mentors, Celtic Frost) quickly moving away from the everyday trappings of thrash metal into unpredictable avant-thrash territory…