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Wake Up the Coma

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Wake Up the Coma
Studio album by
Front Line Assembly
ReleasedFebruary 8, 2019 (2019-02-08)[1]
Recorded2018
Studio
GenreElectro-industrial,[2] EBM[3]
Length62:26
LabelMetropolis
Producer
Front Line Assembly chronology
WarMech
(2018) 		Wake Up the Coma
(2019) 		Mechanical Soul
(2021)
Singles from Wake Up the Coma
  1. "Eye on You"
    Released: November 16, 2018[4]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Chain D.L.K.[2]
Midlands Metalheads Radio[5]
OverdriveFavorable[6]
Peek-a-boo90/100[7]
Reflections of Darkness9.5/10[8]
ReGenFavorable[9]
Release8/10[10]
Side-Line8/10[3]
Sputnikmusic[11]

Wake Up the Coma is the sixteenth full-length studio album by Vancouver industrial band Front Line Assembly. It was released on February 8, 2019 on CD, vinyl and digitally through Metropolis.[1]

Background

According to singer Bill Leeb, it was a deliberate decision to make a completely electronic album: "I said 'Let's not use any guitars in this album and just really go back to the way Caustic Grip and all that kind of era was' and everybody thought that was a good idea. So we just brought it back to a sort of an EBM world where we all wanted to be just purest and more electronic."[12]

Before passing away on January 11, 2018 keyboarder Jeremy Inkel had sent demos to Bill Leeb, which the band decided to use on the album. "We thought it would be great to finish them as we know he wanted them on the record.", said Fulber, "We treated them as all the other ones 'the team' submitted, but they just have this extra feeling in them because Jeremy is no longer around."[13] The release date of the album coincides with Inkel's birthday.

The cover of "Rock Me Amadeus" had been on Leeb's mind for some time. Being impressed with the work of Jimmy Urine, with whom Fulber had collaborated before,[14] Leeb had approached Urine over the course of two years.[12] "Having been born and raised in Austria, and being Austrian, there was enough of a connection", said Leeb about his choice of the cover.[15] Enthused by the experience with the cover version, the band decided to explore working with guest singers further,[16] all of which the band members already knew from touring activities and earlier collaborations.[14]

Release and promotion

A digital only single titled "Eye on You",[17] originally scheduled for release on November 2, 2018,[18] was released on November 16 to promote the album. It features Robert Görl of German electropunk band Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft[19] and contains two remixes of the title track: one by Terence Fixmer and one by Orphx.

The release date of the album was moved from October 2018 to February 2019.[18] In December, the band announced the final release date of February 8, 2019. Chris Connelly, Nick Holmes and Jimmy Urine would appear on the album as guests, the latter on a cover of Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus".[1] In January 2019 the band revealed the album's tracklist.[20]

Two days before the album's release, a video for "Rock Me Amadeus" directed by Jason Alacrity and Jason Jensen premiered at Baeble Music.[21][22]

On December 2, 2020 Front Line Assembly released a video for the track "Arbeit" directed by Henrik Bjerregaard Clausen and starring Danish actor Kim Sønderholm.[23]

Themes

"'Eye on You' is definitely about the paranoia of our governments watching us [...], but there’s a couple of songs that are about the complexities in relationships between people today as well", said vocalist Bill Leeb in an interview with Release Magazine.[24]

The lyrics for the track "Wake Up the Coma" were written by Ian Pickering. Front Line Assembly chose the song title as the album title because they thought it rather fitting of the album's overall theme.[12] "It's about people that literally can't be woken but show signs of awareness, nihilistic, unresponsive in their environment.", explained Leeb, "it's like the word coma, that's somebody who's in the state of unconsciousness and has minimal brain activity. It's like wake up from your dull-drum life and react and get your brain going, show signs of awareness, rather than being so unresponsive to the environment!"[12] Rhys Fulber said, "it's pretty much hinting at the future dystopia we are heading towards apathetically. It will take a lot of waking up on humanity's part, or more specifically the wealthy ones who control everything."[22]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Eye on You" (feat. Robert Görl)Bill Leeb, Rhys Fulber, Robert Görl, Ian Pickering4:30
2."Arbeit"Leeb, Fulber, Jared Slingerland, Sasha Keevill5:02
3."Rock Me Amadeus" (feat. Jimmy Urine)Falco, Rob Bolland, Ferdi Bolland4:14
4."Tilt"Leeb, Slingerland, Keevill5:10
5."Hatevol"Leeb, Fulber, Slingerland, Keevill5:00
6."Proximity"Leeb, Fulber, Slingerland, Keevill5:21
7."Living a Lie"Leeb, Craig Johnsen, Slingerland, Keevill5:53
8."Wake Up the Coma" (feat. Nick Holmes)Leeb, Pickering, Fulber, Slingerland, Keevill5:47
9."Mesmerized"Leeb, Fulber, Slingerland, Keevill, Jeremy Inkel4:47
10."Negative Territory"Leeb, Pickering, Fulber, Slingerland6:18
11."Structures"Leeb, Fulber, Johnsen, Slingerland, Keevill, Inkel5:07
12."Spitting Wind" (feat. Chris Connelly)Leeb, Fulber, Chris Connelly, Johnsen, Slingerland, Keevill5:17

Personnel

Front Line Assembly

  • Bill Leeb – vocals, keyboards, producer
  • Rhys Fulber – keyboards, programming, producer, mixing (5, 9)

Additional musicians

  • Jared Slingerland – additional production, additional programming (2, 4–12)
  • Sasha Keevill – additional production, additional programming (2, 4–12)
  • Craig Johnsen – additional programming (5, 7, 8, 11, 12)
  • Robert Görl – additional programming (1)
  • Jimmy Urine – lead vocals (3)
  • Nick Holmes – lead vocals (8)
  • Chris Connelly – lead vocals (12)
  • Ian Pickering – backing vocals (10)
  • Matt Lange – guitars (8, 12)
  • Jeff Swearengin – additional programming (4, 12)
  • Jeremy Inkel – additional programming (9, 11)

Technical personnel

Chart positions

Chart (2019) Peak position
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[25] 15
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[26] 40

References

  1. ^ a b c Yücel, Ilker (December 8, 2018). "Front Line Assembly announces details of upcoming album". ReGen Magazine. Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Tater, Marc (March 28, 2019). "Front Line Assembly: Wake up the Coma". Chain D.L.K. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Front Line Assembly – Wake Up The Coma (CD Album – Metropolis Records)". Side-Line. March 29, 2019. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  4. ^ Yücel, Ilker (October 23, 2018). "Front Line Assembly announces new single featuring DAF's Robert Görl". ReGen Magazine. Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
  5. ^ Smoke, John E (February 21, 2019). "Album Review: Front Line Assembly – Wake Up the Coma". midlandsmetalheads.com. Burntwood: Midlands Metalheads Radio. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  6. ^ Allan, Lewis (February 2, 2019). "Review: Front Line Assembly – Wake Up The Coma". overdrive-mag.com. Archived from the original on February 2, 2019. Retrieved February 12, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  7. ^ Burke, Kevin (March 2, 2019). "Front Line Assembly Wake Up The Coma". Peek-a-boo. Belgium. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  8. ^ Vorndran, Daniela (February 12, 2019). "CD Review: Front Line Assembly - Wake Up The Coma". reflectionsofdarkness.com. Münster, Germany. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  9. ^ Yücel, Ilker (April 8, 2019). "Front Line Assembly – Wake Up the Coma". ReGen Magazine. Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  10. ^ Carlsson, Johan (February 6, 2019). "Front Line Assembly – Wake up the Coma". Release Magazine. Gothenburg: Release Musik & Media. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  11. ^ Stanciu, Raul (February 10, 2019). "Front Line Assembly Wake Up the Coma". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
  12. ^ a b c d Leeb, Bill (April 21, 2019). "Bill Leeb talks about "Wake Up The Coma", "Amadeus" and more". altvenger.com (Interview). Interviewed by Marija Buljeta. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  13. ^ Fulber, Rhys (April 8, 2019). "Front Line Assembly InterView: Waking Up in 2019". ReGen (Interview). Interviewed by Ilker Yücel. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  14. ^ a b Fulber, Rhys (March 26, 2019). "Rhys Fulber of Front Line Assembly talks synths, Falco, the new album, and more". shortandsweetnyc.com (Interview). Interviewed by Short and Sweet NYC. New York. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  15. ^ Leeb, Bill (February 16, 2019). "Front Line Assembly Interview". electricityclub.co.uk/ (Interview). Interviewed by Simon Helm. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  16. ^ Fulber, Rhys (March 20, 2019). "Rhys Fulber of Front Line Assembly talks about "Wake Up The Coma"". Chaos Control (Interview). Interviewed by Bob Gourley. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  17. ^ Tater, Marc (November 13, 2018). "Front Line Assembly: Eye on You". Chain D.L.K. Taranto, Italy. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
  18. ^ a b Carlsson, Johan (October 10, 2018). "New Front Line Assembly album next year, single very soon". Release Magazine. Gothenburg: Release Musik & Media. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  19. ^ Carlsson, Johan (October 23, 2018). "New single by Front Line Assembly featuring Robert Görl". Release Magazine. Gothenburg: Release Musik & Media. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
  20. ^ Van Isacker, Bernard (January 14, 2019). "Front Line Assembly announces more details new 'Wake Up The Coma' album – including Falco cover". Side-Line Music Magazine. Belgium. Retrieved January 15, 2019.
  21. ^ "Exclusive Premiere: Front Line Assembly - "Rock Me Amadeus"". Baeble Music. New York: Baeble Media. February 6, 2019. Archived from the original on February 9, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  22. ^ a b Fulber, Rhys (March 28, 2019). "'Click Interview' with Front Line Assembly: 'Starting A Revolution Might Cut Into Binge Watching Your Favorite Netflix Series'". Side-Line (Interview). Interviewed by Inferno Sound Diaries. Belgium. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  23. ^ Carlsson, Johan (December 3, 2020). "Watch the new video from Front Line Assembly". Release Magazine. Gothenburg: Release Musik & Media. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  24. ^ Bill, Leeb (November 5, 2018). "Welcome to the future – Front Line Assembly interviewed in Hamburg" (Interview). Interviewed by Jimi Nilsson. Gothenburg: Release Musik & Media. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  25. ^ "Front Line Assembly Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  26. ^ "Front Line Assembly Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
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