Coroner is hitting the music scene in a big way. After reuniting in 2010 following a 14-year hiatus, the Swiss thrash metal band – the current lineup consisting of guitarist Tommy Vetterli, bassist/vocalist Ron “Royce” Broder, and drummer Diego Rappachietti – is set to release their first album in 30 years, teasing that the long-awaited follow-up to 1993’s Grin is “much more polished and mature.”
“It’s more mature, I would say. In the past, we wrote the music more to show off that we practiced a lot, and nowadays we write more from the heart and from the balls,” Vetterli told Serbia’s Agoraphobic News. “It’s gonna sound like typical CORONER, but, yeah, a little more mature. There’s a lot of technical parts in it as well, but it’s a little bit more song-oriented, and it also sounds very weird, like it always did.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
Although Coroner has been back together since 2010 following their split in the ’90s, the upcoming album will mark their first since Grin. Released in 1993 as their fifth studio album, and a follow-up to 1991’s Metal Vortex, Grin was considered a major departure from Coroner’s previous works and incorporated elements of alternative metal, groove metal and industrial metal. Asked if the new album will be similar, Vetterli said not quite.
“I would say maybe Grin is the closest to the new one, but there is also a lot of stuff more from like the third (1989’s No More Color) or fourth (1991’s Mental Vortex) album,” he teased. “But it’s not possible, 30 years later, you make the same [album], and it also would be totally stupid and boring.”
Formed in Zürich, Switzerland in 1983, Coroner released their demo Death Cult in 1986 with Tom G. Warrior of Celtic Frost on vocals. It was followed in 1987 by their first full-length album R.I.P.. The group, which has undergone multiple iterations, has since released four additional albums – 1986’s Punishment for Decadence, 1989’s No More Color, 1991’s Mental Vortex, and 1993’s Grin. The group split shortly after, releasing a best-of album, Coroner, two years later. They reunited in 2010, with Vetterli, Broder and then-drummer and founding member Marky Edelmann returning to the stage the following year. Following Edelmann’s departure from the band in 2014, Rapacchietti was announced as the new drummer.
The upcoming album was first announced back in 2022 when Vetterli told Blabbermouth, “we’re working really hard on it at the moment.” The album was originally slated for a 2023 release via Century Media Records. It’s unclear when the album is now slated for release. Further information regarding the album hasn’t been shared.
