Review
Coliseum
House With A Curse

One of the beautiful things about making music and sonic art, is that the artists and bands can take their work to interesting places at the drop of a hat if they so choose or are somehow led (by emotions, life changing events, calculated maneuvers, etc) to make such a sonic shift (through songwriting changes, production changes, personnel changes, etc); sometimes artists create side projects so as not to disturb their main outlet for musical release, while at others the artist just shifts sound. When the latter happens, it can be difficult for the avid listeners of said artist or band to adjust to or even accept; this can sometimes lead to a simultaneous loss of old fans while gaining new ones (though it does not always work out so well).

Coliseum makes such a shift with their latest album, House With A Curse; with another new drummer in tow (drummer number 4 at least I believe, which is still approaching Spinal Tap territory), the band slow things down a great deal and phase out most of the blazing d-beat punk influences that dot their previous work. Where Coliseum used to seethe with unbridled rage, now the band fumes with a simmering anger (a subtle difference); where the three-piece used to blister through an LP in just around 20 minutes, now the band offers a slow burn in almost double that time as their song writing has gradually matured.
At first, House With A Curse absolutely infuriated me; following up on the heels of the True Quiet / Last Wave single, it seemed as though Coliseum were about to break through and finally integrate their subtle melodic sensibilities with the furious nature of their music. Instead, this album seemed to show a band that lost its hard edge and tempered its vicious side; and while that might not have been a bad thing, the melodic side of the band was not brought to the fore either. After listening to the record extensively, I realize that the production on House With A Curse is weak; the guitars are flat and uninspired sounding at times (listen to the muffled leads of “Blind In One Eye”, the drums are hit instead of pounded, and the overall quality has that slick sound that boarders on a harder indie rock sound. My friends and I refer to records with this type of sound quality by moving our hands in a straight line indicating the lack of volume dynamics where most of the record just blends together without much in the way of sound that grabs your attention, and hearing a record like this is always a bummer.

The sad part of the experience is that there are some genuinely great tunes on this album, which are well written (seeing these suckers live shows their power and fury but further drives home the lack of punch in the recording of the album) and a further evolution in the band. “Everything To Everyone” has some of the best moments on the this record, and I really dig “Cloaked In Red” and its rolling bass line; but I’ll be honest and say that House With A Curse is certainly not the best Coliseum record by a long shot (though it is a brave step forward for the three piece). Hearing this though makes me wonder just where the band is going to go next as some of these songs do grow on you with repeat listening, but guessing a possible direction for future recordings is difficult based off of where this record seems to be going.